Journey Back in Time : The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Baltimore, MD

Blacks in wax.

I chuckled when I first heard the phrase on a radio commercial while driving home from work one afternoon. “Comical, yet clever,” I thought as I turned up the volume, just to make sure I heard what I thought I heard.

The gravelly-voiced announcer continued to read his script, and I soon realized that it wasn’t a phrase; it was part of a name. The commercial was an open invitation to radio listeners to visit the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

I admit - the only wax museum I ever heard of was Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, and I only heard of it through watching several episodes of Entertainment Tonight, and shaking my head in disgust at the glamorous correspondents who tried to “interview” some of the life-like wax figures. (It’s funny once, but after the second time, it’s not.)  Even so, the figures looked amazingly real.

I wondered if the ones inside the Great Blacks in Wax Museum looked the same.

So, I gassed up the Sonata, packed a few snacks, and drove 2 ½ hours to Baltimore to find out.

The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is located
inside a renovated firehouse. It was established in 1983.

Getting To Know You : Jackson Ward Walking Tour, Richmond, VA

I’ve always heard that the best way to get to know a community is to get out of your car and walk the streets. Breathe the air. Meet the people. Look at the architecture.

Since I moved to the Richmond area back in September, I’ve only driven to Jackson Ward a few times, mainly to attend sorority meetings at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Leigh Street. And at the end of each meeting, I got in my car and headed back to my comfort zone, which is about 17 miles away – Midlothian.

I knew Jackson Ward was filled with rich history, thanks to the information I found in some of the pamphlets I picked up over the last few months.  However, I never explored it.

Until today.

The Black History Museum and Cultural Center on W. Clay Street