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Plano African American Museum reopens
Just in time for Juneteenth, the Plano African American Museum is celebrating by reopening its doors to the public.
PLANO, Texas - Events celebrating Juneteenth started on Saturday across North Texas.
Juneteenth is now recognized as a national holiday after President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in 2021.
Fort Worth's own Opal Lee was the leading voice in getting the holiday recognized.
READ MORE: Opal Lee, grandmother of Juneteenth, has busy weekend as we approach national holiday
Just in time for the holiday, the Plano African American Museum is celebrating by reopening its doors to the public, using Juneteenth weekend to not only remember the past, but secure the future.
It was a day to bring to life the Plano African American Museum.
"It’s a celebration of freedom, a celebration of who we are. Who we were, and who we are, and because it’s a celebration of that, why not celebrate this beautiful community," said Dollie Thomas, director of the museum.
Thomas' father, Ben Thomas, was the original champion of the museum.
The building was bought by the Thornton family in 1909.
Now, 114 years later, the museum opens during Juneteenth weekend, which is now a federal holiday marking the freedom of slaves. It was the day Texas slaves learned of their freedom, which was two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
"When you think about it, Christopher Columbus, he had a Black man that brought him over here. He had been here before, so they came long before slavery," Thomas said.
Thomas is focusing on the need to know the entire history of America.
"I didn’t know anything about Africans other than slaves coming in, and when I started learning about it, it was absolutely fascinating to me," she said.
Thomas believes it will also be fascinating for museum visitors who will be able to experience that history firsthand.
History about enslavement and freedom here in Texas, and essential to the fabric of the Douglass community in Plano, which is stitched together.
"I want them to know this is Douglass, this is Douglass, it’s faith, family, and forever. That’s what we always say," Thomas said.
Girl Scout Zara Jones helped curate the museum by building an online version of the museum during the pandemic, tying in local and national history.
The historical timeline she created now hangs inside the museum.
"I felt like my peers need to know about it. I felt like other communities need to know about it, to tap in so they can also research about their history as well," Jones said.
Jones hopes that visitors will better understand not just the disgrace and horror of slavery, but emboldened the strength and will to survive.
"I can still see that picture of men with whips on his back and then the slave ships that’s what I know about Black history," Jones said. "And of course Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, but once we started realizing our worth, we find out, I mean, there was so much that we contributed to this country."
"Everyone needs to know who their neighbor is. You know, as a citizen, I think that every citizen of the United States needs to know about every citizen, ethnicity, culture. It just makes a better place to live," Thomas added.