GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — The African American Museum of History and Culture in Gastonia is the first of its kind in all of Gaston County. The museum features books written by award-winning authors and books illustrated by award-winning artists.
“This is a very special museum because it covers the history and culture of Africans Americans,” said Dot Guthrie, one of the founders and curators of the museum.
The museum also highlights history makers like Bessie Springfield.
“Bessie Springfield was the queen of the motorcycle," Guthrie said. "She rode a Harley from one end of the United States to the other."
It also takes a look at artifacts that bring back memories.
“It is a joy to have a group of seniors meet here and to reminisce about the old wood stove, the old tub that they would take a bath in,” Guthrie said.
Here, you will also read about African Americans’ desperate escape to freedom.
“Henry traveled for 27 hours in a fetal position in a box from Virginia to Philadelphia," Guthrie said. "He mailed himself to freedom."
Born in Clover, South Carolina, Guthrie says she didn’t get to hear the stories of lesser-known African Americans like Bessie Springfield while she was growing up.
Guthrie wants this museum, which has been open for only a year, to inform, encourage, and inspire -- especially the young people
“I want our children to walk away knowing that if Nathaniel Barber the founder of Excelsior Credit Union can create a place to serve others just as Dr. Martin Luther King did, I can too," Guthrie said. "If Sojourner Truth can walk miles and miles as a preacher that couldn’t read, I can too."
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