Intercultural Affairs hosted the Black History 101 Mobile Museum Feb. 3 to discuss and celebrate Black history in the United States.
Khalid El-Hakim, the museum’s founder, held an open lecture while the museum was open. He talked about many of the artifacts and pieces of Black history.
El-Hakim created the museum to help educate students about the stories of African American history that are not widely known.
“These are the stories that should be taught because these are the type of stories that inspire us and unite us in America,” El-Hakim said.
El-Hakim’s lecture talked about the advancement of African Americans and their fight for equal rights. He referenced multiple eras and subcultures ranging from the Million Man March to blues music and more.
“I would love to get to a point where this is behind us, but it’s so deep-rooted in our lives,” El-Hakim said.
El-Hakim has been displaying the mobile museum for over a decade and pushes for African American rights and the fight against oppression.
“Whenever there is black progress, there is always pushback,” he said.
El-Hakim pushed for people to learn more about the civil rights movement and Black history. When commenting about Martin Luther King Jr., he asked who knew King’s books.
“How dare we say we respect King when we don’t even read his books,” El-Hakim said.
El-Hakim talked about how problems that we thought were over are still happening today and there is a lot to do to change them.
“The times that we are living in are so critical,” El-Hakim said. “People are losing their jobs for even having this conversation.”
El-Hakim is spreading knowledge about African American history with his mobile museum, hoping to shine light on the amount of fighting people have done for equality in the United States.
