LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville museum that "tells the story of the African American journey from Africa and all ports in-between" is named one of USA Today's top ten new attractions in the U.S for 2021.
The Roots 101 African American History Museum has exhibits and artifacts from African history through today, and inside you'll find important stories never heard about in school, that piece together history's puzzles.
Founder and CEO of the museum Lamont Collins said to tell the story of how Black Americans came to America, you have to start in Africa.
"Too many times we don't understand that we are descendants of kings and queens that were enslaved in America," Collins said. "So, to tell that story we have to go back to Africa before we came here. We had a history before we came to America. We were enslaved in America.”
When you walk into Roots 101, Collins said he purposefully puts you through a surreal experience to take you on a journey.
He said he puts 400-year-old chains on visitors to demonstrate that there was no justification for enslaving other people.
RELATED: Roots 101, 'On the banks of Freedom' brings light to Louisville's role in Underground Railroad
"There was never a justification other than financial reasons that became racism and separatism," Collins said. "You get a mind shift that everybody gets and it's a mind shift because they didn't know.
It would take a whole day to see everything the museum offers.
PHOTOS: Take a peek inside the Roots 101 museum
Along with the narrative exhibit, there's the collection on the Roots of African American Music, including Kentucky artists like New Birth, Crush Grove, James Brown, Midnight Star, and Nappy Roots.
There's also the Allen House Hotel featuring a big green book.
"The Green Book was about Black people traveling safely," Collins said. "You know, in our day we talk about 'Driving While Black,' well this was driving while Black in the 30s and 40s."
He said Black Americans during that time would work in the North, buy new cars and drive to the South for the summer to see their family.
There are even exhibits in the museum on recent events, like the protests in Louisville that followed Breonna Taylor's death, called the "Protest to Progress."
“I was involved in the marches here in Louisville," Collins said. He said one of the biggest takeaways from those protests was seeing how kids on the street gravitated into the museum.
"It was just as many white kids as black kids out there, which told me whatever world we live in now, the kids today do not want to live in it," he said.
"They don't want racism to be in the middle of what they do. They just want to love people for who they are, what they are, and what they can bring to the table.”
"Representation matters"
Collins said the name Roots 101 came to him because the first course you take in college for any major is a 101-level course.
"I always say we are more than a museum because we do more than a standard museum," he said. "We reflect on the journey and excellence of the Black experience. “
He said Roots 101 serves as an educational piece of the community.
Collins has always had a love for history. He moved his own personal collection from home into a 19,000-square-foot space at 124 North First Street.
He said a family member called "Big Momma" kept up with his family's history.
"We found things out about our family we didn't read about but we knew about," Collins said. "At Big Momma's house, the pictures didn't have to be straight, they could be crooked. The point was they were on the wall."
He said representation like this matters.
“It matters because it matters," he said. "Every human being matters. Being represented in a country that says we're all created equal, matters more than anything.”
Roots 101 is open Tuesday through Saturday and Mondays by appointment. To learn more about the museum visit their website.
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