African American Museum

I firmly believe that the point of visiting a museum is to educate one on how things once were in the past through its display of artifacts, exhibits, art, cultural objects, etc. Its purpose is to let you imagine what it was like during a time you were not apart of or, in some cases, allow you to look back at a time you were apart of when you were very young. The African-American Museum of Long Island did a great job at presenting some of the many African-American contributions to society. In addition to presenting contributions from the African-American community, the museum was able to show us some of the struggle they were required to overcome as well. My favorite possession of the museum was Scott Joplin’s piano. Scott Joplin was dubbed the “King of Ragtime” during his musical career. I felt that it was so cool they somehow were able to get their hands on that piano. When I asked my tour-guide the value of the piano she told me that it was invaluable and that nobody can put a number on it. The only way to determine its value is to put it through an auction and see how much collectors are willing to pay for it. I think the reason for that is because its such an important part of African-American history. How could you put a value on that? I feel it would be impossible to. Another part of the museum I really enjoyed was the mural that an African-American carved out of a tree. The mural was his interpretation of the history of African-Americans. In the beginning it showed how they were all peaceful in Africa and their lives before they ended up being taken into slavery. In the next section of the mural it showed how they were forced into slavery, it even showed other African-Americans taking part of the slave trade which is something I, and probably a lot of individuals, never knew. The last part of the mural showed African-Americans in a pretty successful state in nice, fancy suits around family members overlooking the past. I interpreted the last part of the