Black Panther Party museum to open on Juneteenth
The apartment is owned by visionary Jilchristina Vest and the exhibit will be curated by archivist Lisbet Tellefsen
There is a special exhibit coming to the Bay in honor of the Black Panther Party.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a Bay Area apartment will be transformed into a temporary “mini museum” to honor and explore the history of the Black Panther Party, also known as the Black Panthers.
The 1,000-square-foot exhibit will display 7-foot banners that highlight the history and community service programs the Black Panther Party developed, among other features. It will open its doors to community members in West Oakland on the significant day of Juneteenth — a day commemorating the ending of slavery in America in 1865.
The apartment is owned by visionary Jilchristina Vest and the exhibit will be curated by archivist Lisbet Tellefsen, San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Vest told the outlet she wanted to transform the space after tenants. In the future, she hopes to have the home designated as a landmark and wants to use the space as a potential community center, per San Francisco Chronicle.
“It felt like it needed to be something more than somebody’s apartment,” she said.
With their black berets and black leather jackets, the Black Panther Party mobilized people all across the country to fight for change. The Black Panther Party is a “political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to challenge police brutality against the African American community,” as defined by history.com. Decades later, their legacy continues to impact activists in today’s movement towards justice.
This is not the first time Vest is using her home to honor the Black Panther Party. Earlier this year, she brought another vision to fruition through a powerful mural honoring the group.
As theGrio previously reported, Vest has long held a dream to honor the women of the Black Panther Party.
That dream came true when she commissioned Oakland, California muralist Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith to paint a mural on the side of her home dedicated to the unsung women of the Black Panther Party, East Bay Times reports.
The house sits yards from the spot where Black Panther Party co-founder Newton was shot and killed by Black Guerilla Family member Tyrone Robinson in 1989, and just a few blocks away from the Panther’s former headquarters at Peralta and 14th streets.
Vest decided to celebrate the women of the Black Panther party by putting a 2,000-square-foot mural on her house, along with a quote by Sandra Bland, who in 2015 died while in police custody in Texas, on the back of the house.
Wolfe-Goldsmith, who brought Vest’s vision to life, shared her ideals and accepted the job joyfully.
“It’s an honor to work on a project honoring so many amazing women. Part of the reason that I moved to Oakland is its history of political activism and activism around racial justice and the Black Panthers in particular,” Wolfe-Goldsmith told the outlet.
At the forthcoming Black Panther Party mini-museum, there will be a time limit for visitation when the pop-up opens on June 19, per local reports. Visitors will be allowed to spend 30 minutes walking around the space and tickets are reportedly available online.
theGrio’s Renee G contributed to this report.
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