After several years of fundraising and preparation, the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum鈥檚 push for a Black history wing is moving into high gear.
Tameka Ellington joined the museum in December as its first curator of Black history. Inspired by the book 鈥淎frican Americans of Canton, Ohio: Treasures of Black History鈥� and the , she said she has major outreach planned for 2025.
鈥淚 want to鈥� go into homes and record some of the oral histories,鈥� she said. 鈥淎lso, connect to some of the people in the community that have archives that they're willing to part with, donate or lend to the museum. I have no idea what's out there.鈥�
The Cleveland native said she鈥檚 already working to establish ties to the county鈥檚 Black historians.
鈥淥ne of the things that I found out as I was coming aboard, some of the staff here were saying that鈥� they were having a very difficult time getting archives because the Black community didn't want to hand those archives over to white staff,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ne of the things that I really want to do is make this museum a comfortable place for people of color. For them to want to donate their monies鈥� or interesting artifacts.鈥�
Ellington estimates that it will take at least until 2026 to establish the initial exhibit, followed by a capital campaign to build a separate wing onto the museum. Why include Black history in a museum dedicated to the 25th president?
鈥淔rom the onset, he was very adamant about making sure that he gave Black people the proper opportunities that they deserved to have,鈥� Ellington said. 鈥淥ne of the first Black congressmen, George Henry White, was actually appointed by William McKinley. I really want to see if I can find some information about how William McKinley was connected with the Black community here in the Stark County area.鈥�
The that during his first two years in office, McKinley 鈥渘amed nearly as many African Americans to federal office as all his predecessors combined.鈥�
