True Black History Museum visits SUNY Adirondack

SUNY Adirondack will mark Black Solidarity Day on Nov. 4 with a public viewing of the True Black History Museum and a lecture on the significance of the annual event.

The True Black History Museum will be open for public viewing from 12:45 to 5:30 p.m. in the Northwest Bay Conference Center on the Queensbury Campus. The traveling museum features more than 150 artifacts and original documents from historic figures, including Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, Angela Davis, President Barack Obama and many other noted African Americans.  

Fred Saffold, curator of the museum, will present a lecture at 12:45 p.m. on the origins of Black Solidarity Day and its current relevance.

Panamanian-born activist, historian and playwright Carlos E. Russell was inspired by the fictional play “Day of Absence” by Douglas Turner Ward to create Black Solidarity Day in 1969. The event is observed annually before an Election Day in November.

The Black Solidarity Day programming, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the SUNY Adirondack Senate, College Activity Board, Faculty-Student Association and the Residence Hall Association.