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HomeCommunitySchoolsCancryn Jr. H.S. Opens Museum Highlighting African-American, V.I. History

Cancryn Jr. H.S. Opens Museum Highlighting African-American, V.I. History

Addelita Cancryn Junior High School opened the doors to its new museum on Wednesday, June 14, which highlights African American and Virgin Islands history. The museum on the school campus was created by the Cancryn’s Social Studies Department under the direction of chairperson Wendy Diaz and school librarian Victoria Guanzon to bring textbook and classroom lessons to life.

The museum will be open to the public Monday, June 19 through Friday, June 23, for three showings daily: 9 – 9:55 a.m., 11:55 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. and 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. Admission is $1.

The two-room exhibit is arranged in chronological order with the first room depicting V.I. history. Displays include the Middle Passage, Emancipation, 1878 Fireburn, the 32nd Legislature and current government officials. A wall adorned with imagery and a short history of V.I. Tuskegee Airmen, Henry E. Rohlsen and Herbert Heywood, leads into the second room dedicated to African-American history.

Artwork showcasing the Underground Railroad, Civil Rights Movement, and former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama covers the walls there.

The Social Studies Department thanks its sponsors Alina Quinones Nuel, Verna and Jerry Malone, Liston Fahie, Samuel Burgin, MSI Building Supplies and ACE Hardware for their generous support in making the museum a reality.

The museum will be closed for the duration of the summer and will reopen in the 2017-2018 school year.

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