African History: Dr. Leonard Jeffries

Object Details

Creator

Anacostia Neighborhood Museum

Hutchinson, Louise Daniel

Scope and Contents

Dr. Leonard Jeffries speaks to supervisory staff at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (ANM) during the development of the exhibition, Out of Africa: From West African Kingdoms to Colonization. He discusses levels of analysis (factual level, conceptual level, theoretical level, and practical level) when studying and presenting history to others. He explains history is viewed through varying perspectives and talks about the Euro-American and African-Asiatic perspectives and value systems. Throughout the lecture, Jeffries talks about the history of slavery and the slave trade; African servitude versus Euro-American slavery; Euro-American abolitionists versus African abolitionists; Euro-American materialism and profit making; African history, traditions, and perspective; black history, and black experience. He explains misconceptions are made in the study and portrayal of history; and museums can either challenge these misconceptions or continue them. He stresses Africa has been called the dark continent, and this statement along with others presents black history and black experience in a negative context, which results in cultural genocide. Finally, Jeffries reviews and discusses the sections of the future ANM exhibit and explains the best ways to present topics of each section.

Presentation/lecture. Part of Out of Africa: From West African Kingdoms to Colonization Audiovisual Records. AV003271: Part 1, Levels of Analyses. AV003257: Part 2, America. Sound quality poor - static throughout both recordings. Dated: 19780605.

Date

1978

Extent

2 Video recordings (open reel, 1/2 inch)

Type

Archival materials

Video recordings

Lectures

Topic

African Americans

Museums

Blacks -- History

Blacks -- Study and teaching

Slavery

Slave trade

Colonization

Abolitionists

African culture

Museum exhibits

Place

Africa

United States

Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)

Series Citation

Out of Africa: from West African kingdoms to colonization audiovisual records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier

ACMA.03-031, Item ACMA AV003271

Local Numbers

ACMA AV003257

General

Title transcribed from physical asset.