Museum is hoping to unearth hidden history
As part of Black History Month, staff at Mariners trying to identify those who built facility
There are photographs of African Americans who built the Mariners’ Museum, but the museum hasn’t known their names or their stories for years.
As part of its Black History Month programming, the museum wants to change that.
“A lot of them were African Americans who worked at Newport News Shipyard, but we don’t have their names,” said Wisteria Perry, manager of interpretation and community outreach. “We want to be able to tell the history — African American history, Newport News history and the history of the museum, of who we are and where we came from.”
The program — Hidden Histories — will debut Tuesday to explore what museum staff has learned and to get help from the community in identifying the people in the photographs.
“We’re very excited for this because we really want to give agency and names to the people that built our museum,” Perry said in a phone call. “Without those people who were working at the shipyard and eventually building our museum, it just wouldn’t be here. We can’t tell that full story of being a maritime museum and being a part of our community without that part of the story.”
Hidden Histories, like all of the museum’s other Black History Month programs, will be offered virtually on Zoom.
The museum has held its Black History Month programs in person, but throughout the pandemic, it’s found success offering programs virtually.
The Black History Month programs began Monday, and Perry said the staff was in “happy shock” when they learned how far the programs reached, such as a teacher in Texas was sharing the program with her whole class.
It’s not the first time the museum’s virtual programming has reached beyond Hampton Roads.
Perry said the museum has been offering a weekly 30-minute program — Maritime Monday — online and it’s been reaching audiences outside the U.S. An English as a second language school in Russia has been using the program as part of its history lessons.
“With everything that’s happened in the last year, we found that taking these programs to a worldwide audience in a lot of cases has just opened the door to so many opportunities,” Perry said. “We already know that even when we’re back in the museum that programs like Maritime Mondays and Black History Month will continue to be offered virtually.”
“At the museum, our mission is connecting people to the world’s waters because that’s how we’re connected to one another — it’s not just looking at a more local or regional perspective, but really taking it global,” Perry said.
Some of the programs this month will explore the history of different kingdoms and groups in Africa that lived along the rivers, lakes and oceans and how it connects back to Hampton Roads.
This month’s programming will also explore the contributions of African Americans during wars including sailors who received the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War.
“There are things you may learn in school that you don’t get the full story of, simply because there’s not
“With everything that’s happened in the last year, we found that taking these programs to a worldwide audience in a lot of cases has just opened the door to so many opportunities.”
— Wisteria Perry
enough time to deep dive into that. We’re able to provide those things, and what we don’t know we will definitely research,” Perry said.
“A lot of people have heard of the Underground Railroad, but they may not realize that the waterways around here — the James, the York, and the City of Norfolk itself were really instrumental in what was taking place with the Underground Railroad in our area,” she added.
Cassandra Newby-Alexander, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and history professor at Norfolk State University, presented Thursday evening on the role Virginia waterways played in the Underground Railroad.
Some of the programs that launch this month will continue beyond February.
“We’re going to be telling the story of Black mariners throughout the year,” Perry said.
All of the museum’s Black History Month programs are free, but they do require a personal Zoom account and advanced registration online at https://marinersmuseum.org/blackhistory/. For more information call the museum at 757-596-2222.