An American Heritage

By REGINA SCHAFFER

Staff Writer, (609) 272-7211

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP

— To the untrained eye, they are things. Some may even be offensive.

That is, after all, how they wind up at yard sales and in the back corners of antique stores. Those are some of the places where Ralph Hunter finds some of his best treasures.

For 35 years, Hunter, the founder of the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey, has scoured the United States for African American relics. As he looked around at what was once a traveling museum in search of a home, he can appreciate that his collection of more than 3,000 pieces now fills the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in the Newtonville section of Buena Vista Township.

“We figured we’d come here for two months,” Hunter said of the location. “That was over two and a half years ago. We’re really proud.

“That’s what happens,” he said. “Good keeps stuff coming.”

His finds, sometimes, are almost too good to be true. His most recent discovery of seven 19th century charcoal portraits, found in the crawl space of an Atlantic City home, has been well documented. Hunter has decided all the discoveries are not a coincidence.

“I’ll tell you what, God has blessed this project,” Hunter said. “And I don’t mind saying that. Things just keep coming to us. People feel the passion that we have.”

While Hunter says all the pieces have value, there are certain pieces that tend to call more attention to themselves.

There is the statue of the black jockey, for example, that Hunter purposefully puts at the front door to greet people.

“People say, ‘This is derogatory, this shouldn’t be here,” Hunter said.

But it is there to elicit that type of reaction. Now, Hunter can educate.

“Those are pieces where people focus right on them when they come in,” Hunter said. “They’re the most asked about pieces. The intensity in their face and their eyes when they see these pieces ... they have so much power.”

Little Black Sambo

It is a small booklet, maybe 4 inches wide, with a cigarette burn going through it.

On the cover is an black American boy with big red lips. It is the story of “Little Black Sambo,” a boy who manages to outsmart several tigers in the jungle. The symbolism in the book has often been said to have racist overtones.

Hunter remembers the day the book was shown to him in an antique shop by a dealer there, after Hunter asked if the man had any black memorabilia to sell.

“(The dealer) said, ‘I don’t want to offend you,” Hunter recalled. “I said, ‘You can’t offend me, I collect black memorabilia.”

The book dates back to about 1927, Hunter said.

While the depiction of Sambo in the story may offend some, Hunter looks at the piece as something to learn from. It marked the beginning of his fascination with black history.

“It had no name on it,” Hunter said. “I think that’s why I fell in love with it.”

Joco

It is referred to as a “salesman’s sample” — a wrought iron statue, about 7 inches tall, of a black servant dutifully holding a lantern. It is representative of the larger version that can be found on many front lawns today, though many are now painted to have white skin.

As a boy, when Hunter accompanied his father, a landscape architect, on jobs in Philadelphia, he often encountered these statues.

He hated them.

“I would try to kick them over,” Hunter recalled. “I thought they were spoofing African Americans.”

As an adult, he learned the history behind them.

The boy immortalized in the statues, “Joco,” was a servant of George Washington’s between the ages of 11 and 14, traveling with the Revolutionary Army. Refusing to leave his post at Valley Forge, where it was bitterly cold, Joco faithfully held his lantern for the troops each night, until one night he was discovered frozen in that very position.

Washington, so endeared by Joco’s bravery, had a statue cast of Joco in his honor. Later, the lighted statue became a signal for safe houses in the Underground Railroad.

“He was respected,” Hunter said.

‘We Shall Overcome’

The words are on the cover of an original 1963 collection of graphic collages, created as a memento for those who attended the march on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

“It is more than an expression of one event,” the opening page of the collection, signed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, states. “It is rather a reminder of generations of hope, of sacrifice, and of faith.”

“I call this a black declaration of independence,” Hunter said.

The memento includes a copy of the march on Washington program, which reveals that King was the 16th speaker at the rally. “It didn’t matter to King,” Hunter said, noting that King wanted other speakers to go before him. Even so, his words still carried power.

“It didn’t matter if he spoke at 4 o’clock in the morning,” Hunter said.

Tom Molineux

He found it at a yard sale five years ago.

A white, nondescript plate lined in gold, in the middle an etching of a black man fighting a white man bare-fisted. Hunter thought the piece was interesting, so he purchased it for $35 and brought it home.

He has no idea how interesting.

After some research, Hunter discovered the black man on the plate was Tom Molineux, the first black man to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world in 1811.

He lost, but only after going 40 rounds against a white man named “Cribs.”

The fight was commemorated on English bone china bearing the royal crown.

“We only know of seven others of these in the world,” Hunter said. “It’s rare.”

‘The proud beauty of black women’

“I paint because I have to,” Cal Massy said. “It’s my way of communicating with the world around me.”

Massy, a Moorestown native, is well-known locally for his oil and acrylic work and a sharp attention to detail.

“The beautiful women I paint is in tribute to the proud beauty of black women,” Massy said.

Hunter was first introduced to Massy’s work at an art show in the 1970’s, where he got to meet him in person. He was fascinated by his attention to detail and flow.

In the museum is an original work of Massy’s, drawn in 1987, titled ‘Angel Heart.” The angel, black and ‘white, is made entirely from a collection of thousands of dots. Her hand is on her heart, and her gown seems to float off the surface.

“I was fascinated by the robe that. she’s wearing,” Hunter said. “The way that it goes in and out, and her hair, is so absolutely fantastic, how he is able to get the wings, and that beautiful gown she has on. The symmetry is just outstanding.”

Langston Hughes

The museum offers a collection of over 500 books, but the most treasured among them by Hunter is a first edition copy of “A Pictoral History of the Negro in America” by Langston Hughes. This copy bears an inscription by Hughes, dated Nov. 2, 1956.

Frederick Douglass

Originally molded in clay, the sculpture “Frederick Douglass, Freedom Leader” by Gerald F Lynch depicts a man who not only found his own freedom from slavery but led others to freedom as well. This piece, made of poly-resin, is on loan to the museum for one year, though it may be extended to five years.

Malcolm X

The eyes follow you everywhere.

In fact, when bringing the pastel drawing of Malcolm X to local schools, Hunter often makes children walk back and forth while staring into Malcolm’s eyes, to feel his gaze. In the thawing, done by an unknown artist, Malcolm’s face is a myriad of color — mostly red and green.

“Curators of major museums think it’s the number one item in our collection,” Hunter said.

The slave auction of 1849

An original slave auction sign, dated 1849, boasts slaves for sale among a host of animals such as oxen and hounds on a Kentucky farm. But what is special about this sign is that it insisted the family of slaves — two men, two boys and “two mulatto wenches” — be sold together, which was rare for the time.

“That was fantastic,” Hunter said. “They kept that family together. How much more important could that be?”

Tom Feelings

One of the world’s greatest self-taught artists in the country, according to Hunter, the late Tom Feelings is known for his intense depictions of black life and culture. He died two years ago.

Only recently, Hunter has come upon a collection some of Feelings’ works —including a 1972 price list for his drawings.

“I took my drawing pad, pen and pencil everywhere I went, and drew the black life I was familiar with ... a black moment in history” Feelings said.

[Photo #1]    African-American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey Director Ralph Hunter looks at a bust of Frederick Douglass in Newtonville, Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County. On this page and the next, we have photographed what Hunter considers to be the museum's Top 10 exhibits. Please match the name above the photo to its brief synopsis in the story. Staff photos by Michael Ein

[Photo #2]   Langston Hughes             [Photo #3]   Joco                       [Photo #4]   Tom Molineux

[Photo #5]   Malcolm X                 [Photo #6]   Slave Auction of 1849              [Photo #7]   Little Black Sambo

[Photo #8]   We Shall Overcome     [Photo #9]   The proud beauty of black women     [Photo #10]   Tom Feelings

African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey
661 Jackson Road, Newtonville, NJ 08346, 609-704-7262; (fax: 704-7263)
email: rhunter@AAHMSNJ.org

This site maintained by Bob Barnett.
Last updated: 2005 Second Month, 26th.