The Museum As Classroom
While at a flea market more than three decades ago, Randy Hayward, GRD’11, came upon a Black ragdoll. It was handmade, thought to be from the ’30s or ’40s.
“I thought, ‘Wow,’” he recalled, still with a hint of excitement. “Back then, not a lot of toys represented Black children.”
Fascinated, he bought it. And so began his dedicated pursuit of Black Americana. Two thousand artifacts later, the Detroit native is curator of the Traveling Black History Museum he founded in 2019 when he left the Detroit-based Marvin L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts, where he was superintendent and lead principal. But his passion for education is never far. Hayward spends his time researching historical pieces and sharing his discoveries with schoolchildren, college students, and others.
“I bring in these artifacts, and for the first time you’re holding a piece of history,” he said— with “proper gloves, of course,” he added. “You’re transported to that place, and then I get to tell a story that’s inviting to hear.”
The collection, spanning the antebellum era to the present, includes shackles that once bound enslaved people; a rare medallion from the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association; a boxing robe signed by Muhammad Ali; and signed tennis rackets from Serena and Venus Williams. His trove also pays homage to Black motorcycle racers and Hayward’s own enthusiasm for the sport—he has a bevy of antique bikes. “My artifacts,” he said, “really speak to the American experience.”
Like Hayward, other Penn GSE alumni who work in a variety of roles at museums are bringing a range of knowledge to people of all ages—teaching not in traditional classrooms but through exhibits, outreach, and special programs.
One such alum works at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, Tennessee, sharing the marginalized histories spotlighted at the museum to garner support among potential donors. Another, the founder of the National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI) in Newport, Rhode Island, is on a mission to enlighten the public about the artistic talent of once-overlooked illustrators. At Baltimore’s Port Discovery Children’s Museum, an alum spearheads imaginative programs that teach parents the importance of play, while a museum educator at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is building bridges between the past and present.
Read the full story in the spring/summer 2024 issue of Penn GSE Magazine.
