A new children’s museum in the works for northwest Baltimore is hoping to shed light on a sometimes-forgotten chapter of black history.
“Mama Kiki” Armstrong, originally from Ghana, wants to feature music, drumming and dancing that have influenced American pop culture at the Sankofa Children’s Museum, and bridge the gap of missing history.
“This should help them appreciate the culture,” Armstrong said. “We’re not just talking about African-American kids. We’re talking about all the kids in the community.”
Armstrong also wants to feature art and textiles that are so precious in native-African communities.
“The Sankofa Children’s Museum is so important because children need to learn their history and their culture,” Nile Ross said.
Plans for the museum are coming together. An online fundraiser has already raised a few thousand dollars toward its efforts.
It would be the first African children’s museum in the country.
“We have to realize that the history of black America, for instance, does not start with slavery,” Armstrong said. “There is a whole lot of history and a whole lot of civilization before the white men ever set foot in Africa.”
The Sankofa Children’s Museum is preparing to open its doors in Park Heights this summer.
“They might not even know that they’re learning,” Armstrong said. “But we will introduce ideas and concepts that they could participate in, and thereby learn the history of Africa.”