Oral history interview with Amina Dickerson

Amina J. Dickerson describes the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (now Anacostia Community Museum) as a pioneering institution that provided great counsel and inspiration to the movement to create African American museums around the country. She views it as a model institution that served and was situated within its community, and that tried to elevate the spirit and the intellect of the residents to ever higher standards and awareness. She recalls collaborating with the museum on the Out of Africa exhibit in the 1970s when she worked for the Museum of African Art. She remembers Zora Martin-Felton's leadership in the education program, an effort she says to develop the skills, intellect and spirit of young people in the Anacostia area. She recounts the museum's many successes including the development of exhibitions that came to serve the network of African American museums around the country, and their commitment to creating publications to accompany their exhibitions. The interview was recorded via telephone. The voices are somewhat muffled, but can be heard clearly throughout the recording. Exhibitions mentioned: Out of Africa: from West African kingdoms to colonization, The Rat: Man's Invited Affliction, Climbing Jacob's Ladder: the rise of Black churches in Eastern American cities, 1740 - 1877, Black women: achievements against the odds.