Drake House Exhibit Celebrates Black History Month

Florence Spearing Randolph
Founder, Wallace Chapel AMEZ Church

The Drake House Museum's 2007 Black History Month exhibit, "Celebrating 150 years of Black American Heritage: 1857-2007," opens tomorrow afternoon at the museum, West Front Street and Plainfield Avenue.

Developed from the research work and private collections of Ethel M. Washington, the show features historic black and white photos of notable local Blacks who made significant contributions to the County’s cultural legacy. Many of the photos are featured in Washington’s book, Union County Black Americans, published by Arcadia in 2004.

Among the group of notables featured in the exhibit are Amos Noe Freeman (1810-1893), an Underground Railroad Operative born in Rahway and maternal grandfather to the famous portrait painter and illustrator Laura Wheeler Waring; the Reverend William Drew Robeson (1845-1918) founder of St. Luke’s African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church in Westfield and father of the famous Paul Robeson; the Reverend Florence Spearing Randolph (1866-1951), pastor and builder of the Wallace Chapel AMEZ Church in Summit and organizer in 1915 of the New Jersey State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs; John Matthew Shippen (1879-1968), America’s first professional golfer to play in a U. S. Open Championship and head pro/groundskeeper at Shady Rest (now Scotch Hills) in Scotch Plains, the first Black-owned golf and country club in the United States; and the Reverend William A. Everett Lattimore, Union County’s first Black Freeholder and the first Black mayor of Plainfield.

The exhibit is one of several Black History exhibits conceived and developed by exhibit designer and consultant Ethel M. Washington, owner of the Black American Arts and Decorative Arts (BADD) Gallery. Washington is the History Programs Coordinator in the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.

Washington, who holds a Museum Studies Certificate from Rutgers, received her B.S. degree from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and M.A. and M.Ed. degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has done post-graduate work at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Social Work in New Brunswick.

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"Celebrating 150 years of Black American Heritage: 1857-2007"

Opening and reception, 2 - 4 PM. Sunday, February 18, 2007
At the Drake House Museum, West Front Street and Plainfield Avenue. FREE.
The exhibit runs through March 10. The museum is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons, 2 - 4 PM. Information: (908) 755-5831.

Arcadia Publishing: "Union County Black Americans", by Ethel M. Washington.