page_title: Tubman Museum
section_title: The Museum's Beginnings
hierarchical_section_title: Tubman Museum / Mission / The Museum's Beginnings
caption_attribution_description: English: Harriett Tubman museum exhibit Macon GA
context_page_description: The Tubman Museum, formerly known as the "Tubman African American Museum", is located in Macon, Georgia, USA. It is located in the city's museum district near the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: The Tubman Museum had been a longtime dream of the Rev. Richard Keil, formed over more than two decades of working in predominantly black churches primarily in the South. When Keil, a Catholic priest, was assigned to St. Peter Claver Church in Macon, he thought the city would be the perfect place for the museum, given its central location and access to interstates.
  In 1981, after consulting with various African American community leaders, he found a building on Walnut Street, made the down payment and personally signed for a loan, confident that others would contribute. 
  In his 2015 book, “Lessons along the Way,” Keil explained his motivation for starting the museum:
  “It was 1981. In the quarter of a century I’d spent pastoring in black churches, I had seen the legacy of slavery and segregation.  Too many African Americans were living in poverty in crime-ridden neighborhoods where drug use was rampant and the black pride of the 1960s and 1970s had fallen by the wayside. Starting a museum wasn’t just an act of love and appreciation. It was necessary.
  “Even though race relations had improved significantly over time, and black people were continually making strides in the economic arena, there were simply too few repositories of black history. Too few museums reminded people of the contributions, and sacrifices, of African Americans; too few centers embraced black culture and portrayed African Americans in a positive light. History books tended to overlook the triumphs of black Americans.”
  He credited many with offering ideas for the museum and helping to get it up and running:  high school principal Gloria Washington; Mercer University professor  Bobby Jones; contractor and county commissioner Albert Billingslea, as well as his wife Margaret; Pearlie and John T Oliver, a bank vice president and state government official, respectively; and Maureen Walker, then director of the Ruth Hartley Mosley Center, who encouraged him to go for it.
  The museum moved to its new location, on Cherry Street, across from the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, in 2015. Its directors say it is the largest museum in the Southeast devoted to African-American art, history and culture.
caption: Picture of an art exhibit at the Tubman Museum in Macon GA
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