America’s Black Holocaust Museum Reopens To Great Fanfare

Friday’s grand reopening of America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) drew a who’s who crowd of several hundred Milwaukeeans to the intersection of N. Vel R. Phillips Ave. and W. North Ave.

“I know Vel (Phillips) is smiling down on us,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin of the late Wisconsin civil rights pioneer.

Phillips passed away in 2018, just before The Griot apartments were completed. The building, named for the storytellers that preserved oral tradition and history in West Africa, houses the museum on its first floor. A ceremony was held in the future museum in 2018 to mark the building’s completion, but it took nearly around four years for the museum to open.

ABHM aims to tell the story of African Americans from pre-captivity to the present with a focus on racial repair and reconciliation. The museum relies on a joint physical-virtual experience in its exhibits.

“We have roughly about 5,000 square feet for 500 years of history,” said President and CEO Robert M. “Bert” Davis.

The prior iteration of the museum closed in 2008 amid financial difficulties. It was created by James Cameron in 1988. As a teenager Cameron survived a lynching attempt in Indiana, and later moved to Wisconsin. Friday, Feb. 25 would have been his 108th birthday. Cameron passed away in 2006.

Cameron’s son, Virgil Cameron, recounted what it was like the day the museum closed when he packed up boxes alongside head griot Reggie Jackson. “That was a traumatic day,” he said. The building it occupied was later demolished.

But a small group of individuals never gave up hope of reopening the museum. Virgil said his parents are smiling down on them and the museum.

Those individuals included Fran Kaplan, Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs and developer Melissa Allen. Davis, who joined the organization in 2019, said Kaplan’s kitchen table should be submitted to the Smithsonian for its role in hosting meetings to save the organization.

“That was 14 years, but it feels like six months,” said Virgil Cameron.

Davis praised the support of former county executive Chris Abele. “Chris was the first person to step up and say here is a check for $100,000,” said ABHM’s CEO. But he said Abele requested that it be matched.

The director said that request propelled the ABHM board, led by Ralph Hollmon, to jumpstart its fundraising efforts. “Ralph went out and found what we call our Legacy Circle.” Ten Black families contributed a total of $480,000, far exceeding Abele’s initial contribution.

Others joined in, including the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and a host of other donors. A $10 million anonymous donation came in last year, half of which will build an endowment for the museum.

“Today we officially reopen the doors. At the same time we reopen eyes and reopen minds to the experiences of Dr. James Cameron,” Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson said.

The now-open museum is far from the end of Davis’ vision.

He has a plan to create an academic center of excellence focused on the study of race. To that end, the organization has already purchased the one-story, 36,900-square-foot building across the street.

“Like they say, we have only just begun,” said Davis.

The museum’s full-time staff and a team of consultants have worked for years to prepare the space for visitors. That includes Brad Pruitt, who Davis said was so moved by Cameron that he pivoted his career to supporting the museum. The event was emceed by museum chief operating officer Chauntel McKenzie.

Davis challenged everyone who walks through the museum’s doors to identify ways the effort could improve. He should have plenty of feedback, as a line wrapped around the lobby area waiting to get in Friday. Other dignitaries in attendance at the ceremony included Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Governor Tony Evers and Alderman Russell W. Stamper, II, who filled in for his sick colleague Alderwoman Coggs.

An invocation was given by reverend Reginald Blount. Kwabena Nixon delivered a high-energy spoken word piece. Davis’ college roommate presented a proclamation from their alma mater, Tuskegee University honoring the museum and Davis, who began his career as a veterinarian.

ABHM is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7.

The museum could soon be one of many explicitly Black cultural attractions in a neighborhood the New York Times has already deemed one of 52 in the world to visit in 2022. The Bronzeville Center for the Arts is planning two facilities, one to the west and another immediately to the east. A number of housing projects are underway in the surrounding neighborhoods, including ThriveOn King.

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