By Darchelle M. Garner

For three years, my parents and I repeatedly planned and then canceled (for various reasons) our inaugural visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Then, late last year, we finally made it there. Excited as I was for this long-anticipated adventure, my mother was ecstatic. That was understandably so, since she expected that photos of her grandfather and the story of his activism would be displayed somewhere in the Museum.

Upon our arrival, we proceeded straight to the information desk to ask about such a display, and after an elevator ride and a brief walk through an exhibition hallway, we arrived at the exhibit we most wished to see: the Niagara Movement.

The Niagara Movement was launched in 1905 by a group of prominent African American intellectuals, led by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. When the group was not allowed to meet in the hotels in Buffalo, New York, they crossed to the other side of Niagara Falls into Fort Erie, Ontario, where they held their first meeting. There the twenty-nine African American men, including my great-grandfather, Robert H. Bonner, met in secret to establish the Niagara Movement. They created a manifesto that demanded full political, civil and social rights for Black Americans and the end of segregation and all forms of racial discrimination in the United States. They advocated for economic and educational opportunity and for voting rights for both African American men and women.  Read more >>

Kid Connections Gospel Corner

Happy New Year Kid Connections Family and Friends!

Kid Connections is so happy to share the events that occurred during the month of December with the Kid Connections Families and Friends.

December 5 | Kid Connections invited Families and Friends to Cirque du Soleil to see the performance of "Crystal." Nearly 50 people attended and a fine time was had by all.

December 16 | God's ambassador and Missions Ministry Director Min. Janet Millner came to Kid Connections to share about her mission trip to Haiti. She showed photos of experience of Christmas in November event held for the Haitian children and a video of the party where gifts, donated by Kid Connections family and friends, were distributed. Min. Millner shared videos of the neighborhoods she visited and the workshops offered during a children's conference.  Read more >>

From Slavery to Salvation: The Life of Olaudah Equiano
By Auburn Mann

In 1789, the memoir of Olaudah Equiano (later known as Gustavus Vassa) was published. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano," which is widely regarded as the pioneering slave narrative, deals with the firsthand accounts of the detainment, Middle Passage, West Indian seasoning camps, auctioning, plantation dynamics, the uphill trials of negotiating freedom, the Revolutionary War and the creation of the Sierra Leone colonial settlement for ex-slaves, from the perspective of someone who was born in precolonial Nigeria and died in the west. These vivid, personal depictions of the dehumanizing pain issued by the international slave trade and its domestic counterparts played a significant role in fueling the abolitionist movement.

One of the most compelling events described in this pivotal piece of literature is the introduction of Equiano to Christ. Equiano was sold to sea merchant Captain Henry Pascal, who was a lieutenant in the British Royal Navy. It was during his travels with Pascal that he began to learn more and more about Christ and his redemptive love. Read more >>