Posted on 10/01/2011 2:38:37 PM PDT by csvset
SUFFOLK
A slave's collar, circa 1856, valued at $16,500. A first edition copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1853, valued at $6,000. A slave's leg shackle, with an estimated value of $1,380. Therbia Parker figures he donated about $75,000 worth of slavery artifacts to the United States National Slavery Museum in 2004.
Even before the museum, which never opened, filed for bankruptcy this month, Parker had been trying to reach former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, the museum's founder, to get his artifacts back.
"Not just me, but other people donated artifacts, donated money," he said. "Like a thief in the night, Wilder didn't say nothing to nobody. He filed for bankruptcy."
Wilder, Parker said, has admitted that the board is in possession of numerous artifacts and says they're all safely in storage. But Parker said Wilder has refused to talk to him.
Wilder did not respond to phone calls or emails Thursday from The Pilot.
Parker said that he made an inventory of the items before he shipped them to Richmond. When he was asked to sign a contract with the museum regarding his donations, he requested that a clause be added. If the slavery museum doesn't come into existence, it said, Parker would get his artifacts back.
In addition, if for any reason Parker's artifacts weren't displayed in the museum for a period of one year once it opened, he'd have the right to reclaim them.
It was "the good Lord working," he said, that caused him to ask for that special wording.
The slavery museum was to have opened in 2004 but never could raise sufficient funds. No work has been done on the property since 2007. The bankruptcy filing listed more than $3 million in debts and said that no funds would be available to creditors.
Parker said Wilder won't say where the items are stored, and that he won't give a hint about how, with the specific clause he put into the contract, Parker can get back his possessions. Parker said he's talked with a lawyer whose opinion is that the items should be returned.
Diane Weeks of Goldsboro, N.C., donated to the museum a copy of the original slave papers of Callie House, a woman who tried to sue the federal government for back taxes in repayment for centuries of unpaid wages to slaves.
House??s story is told in the book "My Face Is Black Is True," by Mary Frances Berry. Weeks said she found the papers in her great-grandmother's possessions when the older woman died.
The donation to the museum was a copy, but it was a well-done copy, on authentic paper, said Weeks. Like Parker, she wants it back.
"For me, it was a dream that has turned into a nightmare," said Parker, a semi-retired roofing contractor.
Artifacts similar to the ones he donated and those he still has increase in value almost daily, he said. Some who made donations took tax deductions for donating to the tax-exempt organization. Parker never did. He wanted to retain ownership in case the museum was unsuccessful.
"I want those artifacts back, or I want them in a museum," Parker said. "American history will never be fully embraced until this information is known. And Doug Wilder has no right to these things.
"Everybody should be outraged. They are for the public, for the world to see."
Slavery museum or Disneyland?
That’s a tough one!
Wilder looks like a rat. Depending on how he (mis)managed the nascent museum, he may or may not be able to personally dodge the bankruptcy. That would not be a hard museum to get a lot of visitors to, from the sound of it.
I’ve no doubt a well-designed slavery history museum could be success. Look at the Holocaust Museum. And as a private venture the National Spy Museum appears to be going strong.
I recall the initial publicity hoopla. I had assumed the museum was up and running. Millions of dollars has vanished up the chimney and Doug has some answering to do. He’s a private citizen and this was a private venture so unless Obama owes him a favor there will be blood.
“I want those artifacts back, or I want them in a museum,”
Donate them here and feel real good about yourself!
UN Slavery Memorial Design Competition Launched
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2786422/posts?page=40#40
Oh, I think so, too. I don't recall the details but I remember thinking, when I first read about it, that the organizers of this museum were doing it as much out of a hope for monetary reward as for any great love of history.
Nothing wrong with that. I did reference the Spy Museum, last time I went there it was eleven bucks a head and worth every penny. The idea, of course, is to make money by appealing to paying customers... not by soaking up money from donors and grants, then declaring bankruptcy.
Maybe everybody is getting tired out by this chit.
Money donated to a failed non-profit is probably good ‘n’ gone, but the people should get their stuff back.
About 30 seconds into visiting the Holocaust Museum, I completely and permanently rearranged my future vacation priorities.
|
|
|
| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
|
|
Thanks csvset."Not just me, but other people donated artifacts, donated money," he said. "Like a thief in the night, [former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, the museum's founder didn't say nothing to nobody. He filed for bankruptcy."Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
|
|
|
|
Some entrepreneurs wanted to open a pirate museum on a salvaged pirate ship. The ship had been used to transport slaves at one point in its life, and the usual suspects raised the usual hue and cry to make it difficult to proceed.
I always hate it when historic documents are on fake paper. Glad they used authentic paper in the copy machine.
If it was a loan they should get it back. If it was a donation, then it becomes more iffy. If the property belongs to the bankrupt corporation, it should be available to satisfy creditor claims. If they claim now that it wasn’t a donation, but a loan, then the IRS might be interested - and you might be better positioned than me to comment on that aspect of the matter.
Why would a million dollar facility be needed to show the stuff that was lent or donated to him, anyhow? Because that’s the kind of spiff people expect of museums? A small storefront would suffice until it had gotten a following.
Possibly there were overly grandiose visions for the physical plant and those millions went to someone’s “favored contractor” brother in law who promptly snorted it all up his nose and went kaput.
In this day when similar paraphernalia is common in the twisted sex world, it might or might not shock like it did in olden days. You’d need a psychoanalyst to answer that kind of question. But man’s inhumanity to man is always a fascinating subject, whether in war or slavery, or whether it’s theologians gone south or government gone off the rails. Animated scenes are very easy to do with today’s technology and to show in motion what slavery would have looked like, would grab jillions of eyeballs. You almost wouldn’t even need anything authentic, simply a scholarly good reproduction of it.
I can understand PROMISING the artifacts to be delivered right before opening night, but GIVING the artifacts to them WAYYYYY before then?
NOT smart!
If you need a tax break, you take it when needed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.