Blacks In Wax

Exhibit Learn about Negro Leagues Go see the history of African-American baseball players from the 1800s to the 1960s in Discover Greatness: An Illustrated History of the Negro Baseball Leagues at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, 1601 E. North Ave. Hours today are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 410-563-7809 or go to ngbiwm.com. FYI Susan Reimer is on vaca tion. Her column returns July 29.

When a visitor descends into the depths of the Great Blacks in Wax Museum to take a look at its exhibit on lynching, the first sound often is silence.Then follow words like: "Oh, my God."Here is the lynching of Hayes and Mary Turner, re-created with life-size figures and oversized horror. Billie Holiday sings "Strange Fruit," a song about lynching, softly in the background.On a sweltering August day, in an East Baltimore neighborhood better known for decrepitude and drug-selling than tourism, a sea of children in the matching T-shirts of summer camp come from as far as New Jersey and New York to see searing images like these at Great Blacks in Wax.Now, with a large new Maryland African-American History museum planned for the heart of Baltimore's tourist district, the founders of the first black wax museum in the country are wondering just what their future will hold.

Late this month, Baltimore will begin an ambitious plan to attract more visitors to the waterfront. The plan, called the National Historic Seaport of Baltimore, involves linking sites by water taxi. Visitors will be able to see all of them for a single, discounted rate.While the undertaking is intended to help define the harbor's future, it could be haunted by a nagging question from Baltimore's recent past: Why do some museums succeed and others fail?The question is relevant because one linchpin of the Historic Seaport will be a new museum near Fells Point devoted to African-American maritime and shipbuilding history.

Mission: To stimulate an interest in African-American history by revealing the often-neglected facts of history; to use great leaders as role models to motivate youth; to improve race relations by dispelling myths of racial inferiority; and to support and work in conjunction with other nonprofit, charitable organizations seeking to improve the social and economic status of African-Americans. The museum - the first wax museum in Baltimore and the first in the nation dedicated to African-Americans - was established in 1983 by Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin.

Dec. 26: Kwanzaa Celebration. Benefits Great Blacks in Wax Museum. Variety of entertainment, hors d'oeuvres, nonalcoholic drinks, gifts for children under age 12. Great Blacks in Wax Museum, 1601 E. North Ave. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets at the door $5, $3 under 12. Call 410-522-9547.Dec. 26: "Christmas Extravaganza" black-tie ball. Benefits Baltimore Chapter of Continental Societies. Open bar, buffet dinner, dancing. Martin's West, 6817 Dogwood Road. 7 p.m. to midnight. Tickets $55. Call 410-788-1313 or 410-486-7989.

HISTORIAN Carter G. Woodson began Negro History Week in 1926 (now Black History Month), but over the years many average citizens helped popularize the February observance.One such local person was the late C. Cabell Carter, a Baltimore schoolteacher who spent much of his retirement years in the 1970s and '80s peddling black history calendars he created, and serving as a sort of street-corner historian, preaching to everyone from drug dealers to church leaders about the importance of knowing their history.

A young docent finds confidence, and confusion, at the 0) Great Blacks in Wax MuseumHe knows they are wax. Five days a week, he sees the figures standing motionless and eloquent. He knows they are wax. But the stories the figures tell are so powerful that sometimes their images follow him home, turning his dreams into nightmares.William Redmond is 12 years old. Tuesdays through Thursdays for the past three summers, he has worked as a volunteer at the Great Blacks in Wax Museum interpreting exhibits, selling snowballs at the stand in front of the museum and working in the gift shop.

In the dim light, the first thing you see is a white slave trader tugging on a iron collar encircling a black woman's neck. He is pulling her closer so that he can brand her bare shoulder.You recoil, even though you know the life-size figures are wax. And you realize that this is not going to be your ordinary museum experience.This is the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, in a renovated fire station on the 1600 block of North Avenue. Rowhouses, some boarded up, surround the building. To the west sits the Eastern District Courthouse, a liquor store and a medical supply business.

Retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been immortalized in East Baltimore.The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, the nation's first African-American wax museum, unveiled yesterday a life-sized likeness of the four-star general during a ceremony attended by Powell, his wife, Alma, and other dignitaries, including Maryland's U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke."

It's a black thing. It's a Jewish thing. And the goal is understanding.In the fall, 27 students from Northwestern High School in Baltimore City and Beth Tfiloh Community School in Pikesville explored the common aspects of African-Amercian and Jewish experience in a course at Baltimore Hebrew University. Entitled "Keeping the Faith," the course surveys the history and culture of both groups.A chartered bus picks the students up and returns them to their respective high schools. Students receive three college credits for successfully completing the course.

Grandparents as Parents set to meet Sept. 10 Grandparents As Parents, a support group for grandparents raising their grandchildren, will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia. The discussion topic is "Helping Your Child Succeed in School." Free child care is provided; reservations are required. The group offers information on services and financial assistance and an opportunity to meet other grandparents raising children. Information: 410-313-1940.

Joanne Martin sat across from me yesterday morning at the Great Blacks In Wax Museum. I held my head in my hands, mumbling something no doubt incoherent about what I'd like to do to distributors of rap videos. "I've had people come to this museum from around the world who tell me their only exposure to African-Americans is through rap videos," Martin said. "I had a group of people from London tell me that; I had a group of people from Russia tell me that; I had a group of people from Egypt tell me that."

Exhibit Learn about Negro Leagues Go see the history of African-American baseball players from the 1800s to the 1960s in Discover Greatness: An Illustrated History of the Negro Baseball Leagues at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, 1601 E. North Ave. Hours today are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 410-563-7809 or go to ngbiwm.com. FYI Susan Reimer is on vaca tion. Her column returns July 29.

FAMILY JOHN PAUL JONES DAY Celebrate the father of the American Navy, John Paul Jones, and learn about his contributions during the American Revolution at a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday at his crypt beneath the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel. Afterward, there will be a flag-raising ceremony accompanied by a musical presentation from the Fife and Drums of Prince William III and cannon demonstrations. There will also be children's activities such as a scavenger hunt, knot-tying and paper hat-making.

Throughout February, celebrate Black History Month and the rich heritage of African-American culture at an array of events. From African art exhibits and historical theater shows to jazz concerts and hip-hop film showings, a month of educational, thought-provoking and entertaining activities are taking place. Below are some of the area's many Black History Month happenings. Continuing "Super Stars: The Navy's Black Admirals" -- Items and photos on the Navy's black admirals, Feb. 1 through March 31 at the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center, U.S. Naval Academy, 52 King George St., Annapolis.

Howard E. Rollins Jr., a Baltimore-born actor whose achievements included a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for 1981's Ragtime, will be joining the lineup at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum next week. Rollins' early credits included the soap opera All My Children and a pair of influential TV miniseries: Roots: The Next Generation (playing George Haley, the brother of Roots author Alex Haley) and King, a dramatization of the life of Martin Luther King Jr., in which he played Andrew Young.

Open mike At Great Blacks in Wax Museum Tonight at 7, head to the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, 1601 E. North Ave., for "3rd Thursday," an open-mike poetry/short sto ry event. Jonathan Gordon is the host. Admission is $3 for adults and free for children 12 and younger. Call 410-594-1818 for more information. FYI Kevin Cowherd is on as signment. His column does not ap pear today.

Jazz and Blues Festival Celebrate Father's Day in Federal Hill, which is holding its fifth annual Jazz and Blues Festival on Sunday. Charles Street and Cross Street will be abuzz with the fusion of jazz and instrumental Latin dance music of the Rumba Club, as well as the tunes of at least 15 other groups, including Greg Hatza ORGANization, Robert Lighthouse, the Melvin Sparks Band, mofofunka, the Jaws, Sophisticated Otis, Old Man Brown, Chris Jacobs in...

The Enoch Pratt Free Library will feature readings and discussions this week by prominent authors and scholars on the history and contributions of African-Americans in observance of Black History Month. Tomorrow, storyteller Tahira will tell children stories about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the freedom fighters of the civil rights movement at 1 p.m. at the Edmondson Avenue branch, 4330 Edmondson Ave.; at 4 p.m. at the Walbrook branch, 3203 W. North Ave.; and at 6:30 p.m. at the Forest Park branch, 3023 Garrison Blvd.

WASHINGTON - Education and outreach programs at the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in East Baltimore got a boost last night when the U.S. Senate, as expected, approved a measure that would pour $5 million into the cultural center's coffers. The House approved this week an identical bill to help expand civil rights and violence-prevention initiatives at the nation's first wax museum honoring African-Americans. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings introduced the National Great Black Americans Commemoration Act of 2003, which would add Justice Department money to state, city and private funds aimed at expanding exhibits, facilities and programs at the Baltimore museum, which drew 220,000 visitors last year.