Great Blacks In Wax

 

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Lamar W.

Bensalem, PA

About 10 years ago I went to the Black in Wax for the first time.  It was a very powerful experience.  Recently, I decided to go back. It was just as powerful if not more so.  The slave ship was unreal.  It seems so hard to imagine what the transport across the Atantlic was like.   I cannot imagine the smell, death, and hopeless many experience.  It is no wonder some Africans decided death was better than becoming a slave.  

Many of the other exhibits were also powerful.  Although, some were missing, had mistakes which were covered with write-out.   It is clear some additional funding/fundraiser will help elevate the GBW even more.  

But the greatest asset in the GBW is not so much its environment (although it is a busy venue, or the quality of the exhibits (although the artwork and detail will amaze you) but in what the stories they tell.  

One cannot look at the exhibit of Matthew Henson and wonder "How is it possible that during a time of segregation, rampant racism, laws forbidding black people for basic rights of humanit, a man could travel to the North Pole?"   It serves as a lesson to those of who squander our lives awhile or to students who think they cannot achieve-that we are without excuse.    

I know reviews are generally meant to be light but the message as well as the exhibits impressed me.  It can be an awesome experience if you let it.

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Elite '08

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584

alexis g.

Washington, DC

I am a huge fan off unusual tourist attractions, and this museum rates right up there. My fiance and I went last May, and it can only be described as "an emotional roller coaster." There are wax representations of everything from a slave ship to famous politicians to lesser-known people. The slave ship especially is very gory, so take that as a warning. The museum has several floors, and is probably hands down the best (only?) representation of African-American history in wax. It's definitely a good thing to see if you come to Baltimore, because I don't think there's anything else like this around.
Some of the people represented in wax include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Sojourner Truth, Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr.

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8

imani v.

Washington, DC

this musem is amazing but don't take young kids all the way to the bottom floor because i was youg when i went and i was frightened because the had vaginas and penises in jars and a man was lynched and cats were eating his penis I cryed all night and images like that you never forget but other thanthat it is a great place for a feild trip

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