November 2013


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Once-Segregated Portsmouth Library to Become a Museum


The Hampton Roads Messenger 7


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The exterior of the once-segregated Portsmouth library has been repaired and repainted, while its interior is being refurbished and exhibits added.


BY STEVE MILNER The public is invited to an open


house on Sunday, Dec. 22, at a formerly segregated library in Portsmouth, Va. This event will be held from 2-4 p.m. and will include local dignitaries and former patrons of the library, which opened in 1945.


Located at 906 Elm Ave., this


900-square-foot facility has been refurbished, and will feature displays, exhibits and other artifacts related to its use until 1962. At that time, it became part of the Portsmouth library system.


Where possible, original


furnishings have been retained and will be displayed, according to Mae Breck- enridge-Haywood, President of the African American Historical Society of Portsmouth, which is supervising this project and will operate the museum.


The museum’s guest curator, Dr.


Dianne Swann-Wright of Baltimore, Md., says she’s “intrigued with the history connected to the building and promises to educate and surprise its future visitors.”


Pat Gooch and Michael Dowell


of Amherst, Va., are designing the museum’s exhibits and supervising their installation.


In addition to the museum’s


open house, a gala dinner will be held from 6 to 9 p.m, Dec. 21, at the Edmonds Center, 2714 Frederick Blvd, in Portsmouth. Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a history professor at Norfolk State University, will be the event’s keynote speaker.


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Fulfilling her long-term goal of transforming a once-segregated library into an informative museum, Mae Breckenridge-Haywood pauses in front of a photo of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who was a social reformer, orator and writer.


Faust at 487-6734. Mae Breckenridge-Haywood,


the former longtime librarian at Portsmouth’s I.C. Norcom High School, says this once-segregated library is a story that must be told.


“And the new museum


documenting its history will go a long way in doing this,” she explained.


Referring to the museum project, Breckenride-Haywood added, “I’m very excited about finally getting to the light at the end of the tunnel, and I want to praise the city of Portsmouth in this endeavor.”


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