The Kinsey Collection: More than an exhibit — it's the shaping of America and the World!

By Renarda A. Williams (aka Abari Sankofa)

It is important to know where you came from in order to know where you are going. And that's what The Kinsey Collection is all about ... educating Black America as to where it came from.

The Kinseys' collection of African American history is not just a glimpse into the history of  Blacks in America. It's not just an account of the oppression we faced after we were stolen from Kemet (an Egyptian term meaning "land of the blacks") where we were kings, queens, scientists, doctors, educators and created empires. It is a glimpse into history that shaped America and the world.


I have long been amazed by Bernard W. Kinsey's Shirley Pooler Kinsey's extraordinary historical collection chronicling the African American experience. It was in 2009 that I first began to receive their press releases. I submitted the contents in my free online newsletter, The Empowerment Initiative News Flash (TEION).

For the past seven years, the Kinseys have focused their attention on their national touring museum exhibit of African American art and history dating back to the year 1600. The collection — which has exhibited in 18 cities, been written of in more than 400 articles and television programs worldwide, and been viewed by more than five million visitors — was the first-ever private collection on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

Brought together by activism and married more than four decades, the successful couple has raised millions of dollars for numerous organizations and college programs, including their alma mater, Florida A&M University. They have a passion for African American history, art and culture and, in one of the largest private collections of African American art, have amassed artifacts, documents and artwork spanning 400 years of history.

Bernard Kinsey is the president and founder of KBK Enterprises, a management consulting firm with extensive experience and success providing advice and counsel to senior-level executives. He has consulted on economic development with the governments of South Africa, Germany, the U.K., and France, and was appointed Honorary Consul General by the U.S. State Department and the Central African Republic. Kinsey also enjoyed a 20-year association with the Xerox Corporation and was one of the pioneers in breaking down racial barriers in corporate America. His leadership of the Xerox Black Employees Association led to the hiring of thousands of black employees, women, and Latinos, and is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study. 

Last year, I met Bernard Kinsey, and his son son Khalil, at a lunch and lecture at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (MTCC) in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. There to give a preview of the Kinsey exhibit, which debuted at the center April 8 of this year and which closes July 2, Bernard and Khalil spoke of the importance of having an exhibit like The Kinsey Collection to educate African Americans. Bernard Kinsey spoke of wanting to raise the consciousness of blacks so they would understand the significance of our struggle and achievements of the past and present.

The Kinseys also emphasized how essential it is for Black America to know about the contributions African people have made around the world. (When Barnard Kinsey mentioned the role of the Moors of North Africa in the civilizing of Europe, I, being Pan Afrikanist and Africentrist, couldn't help but let out a loud, "YEAH!" Bernard turned around and responded, "that's right brother!")

Two days before the exhibit's opening at Mosaic Templars, Bernard and Khalil Kinsey returned to Little Rock — this time with Shirley Kinsey — where Bernard delivered another powerful lecture at the Clinton School For Public Service. By way of collection, they are hoping to cut down the barriers that exist in Little Rock, and most of America, forged in racial bias, he said.

"What we decided to do, is to really look at this through the untold story, contributions, and achievements [by African Americans]. We have a show that I think is going to knock your socks off! You are going to see stuff that you will never ever see again. If you are into seeing history, seeing these remarkable stories, and wonderful accomplishments of achievements — not just about African Americans, [but] America, and the building of this country — this is what you are going to get.

"Why are we here at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center? The Mosaic Templars, itself, is in a historical [place], on Ninth Street and Broadway, where in 1883, there were 90,000 policyholders, can you believe that?" Kinsey asked in reference to the fact that the fraternal organization was one that offered insurance for black people. "The Mosaic Templars represented one of the biggest businesses in the South, right here in Little Rock. In 1721, of the 47 people that founded Arkansas, there were six black folks. In Los Angeles, 26 of the 44 people that founded Los Angeles were black, and they spoke Spanish, and they were of African descent. We've been at this thing for a long time, but the history books have decided not to put us in there."

Bernard and Shirley Kinsey interview

                                            
                                                          Bernard and Shirley Kinsey

After this lecture, I had a golden opportunity to interview Bernard, Shirley and Khalil Kinsey when they came to the Mosaic Templars to do an interview with the media. I asked them whether they thought today's African Americans should do more than just acknowledge, learn, and be proud of their history. Shouldn't they also forge their own history for the next generation?

"That's a great question!" Bernard Kinsey acknowledged. "Shirley created a program called SOS — 'Save Our Stuff.' We had a young lady that just started at the Clinton School come up, and she had a tintype of an Union soldier. And I happen to know that it was an Union soldier, because we have a similar tintype from the 1860s. And I said to her, 'Hold on to that.' A young man had the whip that his great-grandfather had, [and that had] been used in Mississippi, in Chickasaw County. What we have to learn how to do is to know the difference between stuff and museum quality [pieces — and that's through] identification. In other words, if you get a photograph and you can identify the people on the photograph and why they are important .... the photograph comes to life."

(When Bernard talked about the young woman's tintype of an Union soldier and the whip the young man showed him, I thought about the 1952 voter's registration card belonging to my late great-grandmother, Viola Coleman Erving. My mother gave me the card years ago, when I returned to my Alexandria, LA, hometown after college and worked as a substitute teacher, newspaper reporter and social worker. My mother told me that during those days of Jim-Crow racial segregation, the voter registration office had black people wait in long lines everyday in an attempt to discourage them from voting.  Mama (my great grandmother) was repeatedly turned away, ostensibly because the polls closed before she had a chance to register. But every day, she would get up and once again walk from our neighborhood — the Sonia Quarters, the fourth-toughest black neighborhood in the city — to the voter registration office to try again. She did this every day until she finally received her voter's registration card.)

Shirley Kinsey said she always tells young people to start now interviewing their grandparents.

"With all this technology, they need to record their grandparents' stories ... so that this can become their history!" she said. "There are so many untold stories that our own families never know about. My uncle passed away in 1993, and he knew Zora Neal Hurston. He had letters from her to him. He knew Cab Calloway, Sarah Vaughn, and Jacob Lawrence. I never knew that, because I never asked those questions." Hurston's letters are in the exhibit.

When Americans fully appreciate the contribution of African Americans in the building of America, a lot of the barriers that have been erected will come down, Bernard Kinsey said.

"And that's why The Kinsey Collection is so important," he said. "What we want to say here is something you didn't know, because we didn't. Here's another way to look at this: We believe in the power of learning through information that will change how you think about [us] ... In other words, the only thing new is the history you do not know," he ended. 

Khalil Kinsey Interview

 

Khalil Kinsey

Khalil Kinsey also expounded on the importance of The Kinsey Collection. He noted that even with the success that the collection has enjoyed in the last 10 years — a success that is comparable to some of the most famous exhibits in the world — the Kinseys still sometimes face the challenge of having to sell themselves. They go where they are invited, he said,

Khalil spoke of  meeting Sericia Cole, former director of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, at a conference a few years ago. "She [asked me when would we] bring it to Little Rock? And I said I would love to have the conversation ... and here we are," Khalil noted. 

"We don't ever know what we are going to [walk] into ... in terms of some venues, and we have had some surprises. But the most part, the facilities are always great. We came here [last] November, and we were just blown away by the history of the museum and the permanent collection that highlights Arkansas Black history.

"We kind of live by the old Boy Scout saying: 'We want to leave the place better than we found it.' It doesn't mean it was a bad place. We just want to improve it, and shine a spotlight on it .... and we think the Mosaic Templars should be celebrated and highlighted in Little Rock and greater Arkansas. This is an outstanding facility. And it's been a pleasure being here."

The Kinsey Collection

I've seen some outstanding exhibits about black history across the country, but The Kinsey Collection is one of the most spectacular and impressive exhibits about the black experience I've ever seen. The spirits of the ancestors "spoke" to me throughout the time I toured the Kinsey's fantastic collection. I also had a sense of warmth and appreciation for what our ancestors did to make me the Pan Africanist and Africentrist I am today.

The collection was a remarkable display of "OUR HISTORY." It's a display that will make viewers feel elated and proud of the brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives for Black America to carry out "Sankofa" — an Akan word from Ghana whose meaning, simply put, is "learning from the past and building the future."

I salute the mastery of the Kinseys in creating a black historical exhibit that will open the eyes of people who don't believe that BLACK PEOPLE stolen from the continent of Africa did not make a contribution to the building of America.

The Kinsey Collection:

Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey

Where Art and History Intersect

The best way I can describe the book The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Where Art and History Intersect (The Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Foundation for Arts and Education, The Kinsey Collection & KBK ENT, Inc., ENT. Inc., Pacific Palisades, CA, 2013)  is that it's an immaculate black-history exhibit in book form.

This companion piece to the Kinsey collection should be viewed as a personal home exhibit for those who attended The Kinsey Collection. The artifacts, documents and letters and other material showcased in the book help capture the essence of black diasporan life in America.

As a History major, I will cherish this book for the rest of my life. It's a perfect gift to give to family and friends who missed a chance to see this amazing collection.

Muhammad Ali: Warrior, Activist and Spiritual Man!

By Abari Sankofa (aka Renarda A. Williams)

On Saturday morning, June 4, 2016, Muhammad Ali went to rest with the ancestors. He fulfilled his purpose for fostering the betterment of humanity.

He was a warrior whose extraordinary boxing skills will never ever be duplicated; an activist who challenged America's elitist governmental and capitalistic system — especially by his decision not to  fight in an unjust war in Vietnam; and a spiritual man ... a devoted Muslim who inspired and empowered people of different faiths all over the world.

It was during my junior and senior years in college that I got involved in Pan Africanism and Afrocentricity, and began to admire Ali, mainly because he was always proud to be BLACK! In particular, he supported the black print and electronic media press. I respected his commitment to empowering Black people in the diaspora and Africa, and other races of people around the world. He donated money to causes that dealt with the poor, homeless, and sick, especially those with incurable diseases, such as his own Parkinson's Disease.

I also respected the gentle and humble spirit of the man born Cassius Clay. I wished I had met him in person. I am sure Ali and I would have been the best of friends.

There are two things, among many others, Ali did that I will carry with me for the rest of my life: During one afternoon in the mid or latter 1980s, I saw Ali on a national news station running with several police officers in a major American city (I forget where) to a building on top of which was a man about to commit suicide. Ali was the one who talked the man down. 

Second, in 2004, I received a review copy of Ali's book, The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey (Simon and Schuster, 2004). Part of Ali's introduction has touched my spirit:

"My concept of religion has broadened over the years. My mother was a Baptist, and my father was a Methodist. They both believed that Jesus was the son of God. I don't believe that, but I believe he was an important prophet like Moses. I believe that on Judgement Day, my parents will be in heaven, not because they were without fault, but because they were decent, loving human beings, and they believed in God. We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans, all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways, forms, and times. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim, Christian, or Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can't love only some of his children."

 On June 8, Roland Martin, host of TV One News One Now, talked with Ali's daughter, Maryum Ali, about a documentary on her father titled I am Ali. The documentary is an intimate and heartwarming look at Ali, the man behind the legend, that has never seen before. It was told through exclusive, unprecedented access to Ali's personal archive of 'audio journals' combined with touching interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends ... his daughters, son, brother and former wife, plus legends of the boxing community such as Mike Tyson, George Foreman, and Gene Kilroy. Maryum Ali told Martin that the documentary is one everybody should watch. She said the film shows her father's soul, heart, and spirit.

 Martin asked Maryum Ali whether it surprised her to see the kind of respect people have for Muhammad Ali today.  "No, it doesn't," she replied. "As children, we've seen [his greatness] for a long time. We know what he [has] accomplished. We are very blessed." 

Martin also mentioned the June 6 statement made by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan about Muhammad Ali:

"The flesh of Muhammad Ali must return to the earth, but what he has done for the cause of Islam, for the cause of freedom, justice and equality will never die. These are the words that strike me, a life well lived and a job well done. He has finished his course. May Allah (God) grant him [the] Paradise that we believe he justly deserves."

Tavis Smiley, author, host and managing editor of Tavis Smiley on PBS and The Tavis Smiley Show from Public Radio International; and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author, political analyst, and syndicated columnist, also commented on Ali.


In the June 5, 2016 CBS News Sunday Morning episode, "How Muhammad Ali helped Tavis Smiley Healed a Father-Son Rift," Smiley talked about the defining moment of his life that occurred was when he was just 12 years old.

  Muhammad Ali with Emory Garnell Smiley
Photo credit: Tavis Smiley

Smiley was falsely accused of a transgression by the minister at his church. According to Smiley's 2006 book What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, the accusations involved misbehavior during Sunday School ... "running wild, disobeying their teacher, disrespecting their teacher, disrespecting the sanctity of this building, and mocking the holy message being taught." In a momentary lapse of judgment, Smiley's stepfather, Emory Garnell Smiley, a deacon and a church trustee, believed the minister and beat Smiley so severely that it put him in the hospital.

"That incident essentially ruined my relationship with my dad during those all-important adolescent years, and we were basically estranged well into my adulthood. The great freedom fighter Frederick Douglass once said, 'It's easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men,'" Smiley noted.

Smiley noted he was a broken man, struggling emotionally for years with how to repair the relationship with his father, whom he'd long since forgiven, but with whom he still didn't have a loving relationship.

Then enters Muhammad Ali.

"As a child, my fondest memories of the good times with my dad all revolved around watching those historic Ali fights on TV. My dad loved Ali — not just for his mastery of the sweet science in the ring, but for his courage to be a truth-teller.

"And I'd never seen a man so willing to speak the truth, no matter the consequences. And so, Ali, the freest Black man I'd ever seen, became my hero, too.

"I could never have imagined that I'd ever grow up to meet the champ, interview him many times, hang out with him, and eventually be honored to call him a friend and a brother. But sometimes your life exceeds your dreams," Smiley said.

Smiley mentioned he hosted an event in Ali's honor one night, and decided to surprise his dad by taking him as his guest. Smiley reserved a seat for his dad at the head table, right next to Ali.
 
"I guess you can imagine how this story ends. I've only seen my dad cry twice in his life: once when his father died, and the night he met Muhammad Ali.

"Ali was always the people's champ, but his lifetime of giving to others is what he'll be most treasured for. He felt that his love and service to everyday people was the rent he paid for the space he occupied.

"And as such, he always made you feel like you were the most important person in the room. He certainly made my dad feel that way, and every time I saw the champ from that night forward, I gave him a big hug and thanked him profusely for being the healing that helped to repair my relationship with my father," Smiley ended.

Smiley further noted that in a year where the world lost a number of legendary figures, it was especially going to miss The Greatest of All Time.

"We all owe Muhammad Ali a debt that we can never repay. I know I do," Smiley concluded.

Hutchinson stated in his June 4, 2016 column, The Hutchinson Report, that "The Greatest is gone." Hutchinson said when he heard of Ali's passing, his mind instantly raced back to 1968. He mentioned that Muhammad Ali by then had become America's biggest pariah. 

"His conversion to the Nation of Islam, his one-time friendship with Malcolm X, his outspoken black preachments, all capped by his refusal to be inducted [into the military] and his outspoken stance against the Vietnam War, made him a marked man. A federal grand jury in Houston quickly indicted him, and an all-white jury convicted him. He was slapped with the maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. His passport was revoked. The FBI stepped up its effort to ruin him," Hutchinson said. 

He wrote of how one the FBI's many wiretaps on Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 revealed that Ali had proposed to donate the proceeds from a boxing match to King's organization. But the match could not be held since every state boxing commission in the country had, by then, revoked Ali's license.

"Still, the FBI was alert for any hint that Ali might try to dodge legal restrictions on him to earn money in the ring. J. Edgar Hoover, the notorious head of the FBI at the time, assigned agents to watch and record everything that Ali said whenever he appeared on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. FBI agents also distributed 'anti-violent statements' to counter what the bureau called 'the anti-Vietnam stand of Cassius Clay.' The FBI's spy-and-intimidation operation against Ali was finally exposed in legal documents in his draft case in 1970," Hutchinson noted.

Hutchinson pointed out that by then, Ali, had embarked on the speaking circuit, talking to anti-war and student groups on various campuses. One of his stops was at California State University, Los Angeles, Hutchinson's alma mater. Ali arrived on campus followed by a small swarm of FBI agents. Wherever Ali went, FBI agents tracked his every move. Which didn’t matter to Ali; in fact, Hutchinson continued, it added to Ali's allure. 

"I, and a small entourage of Black Student Union members, met him in the parking lot to serve as his 'official' escorts to the auditorium. Ali was the paragon of cheer and graciousness, and was as always playful. He shook everyone’s hand and engaged in lighthearted banter with the students. In his talk, he stuck to his stock themes, leading a chant, 'No Vietcong ever called me a nigger,' punctuated by digs at the Johnson administration and his denunciation of racial oppression. During his speech, the FBI took notes and snapped pictures of those in the crowd," Hutchinson said.

What really brought the house down, Hutchinson recalled, was Ali's shout to the standing-room-only crowd that despite everything the government did to him, he still was the biggest, baddest and prettiest, and yes ... the greatest. "As he departed to loud cheers and shouts of encouragement, I, and a few others, thrust our draft cards in front of him, and he eagerly signed mine and the others. To this day. his signature on my draft card is one of my most precious and endearing keepsakes," Hutchinson ended.

In the next two decades, he said, the unthinkable happened, Hutchinson wrote. Ali was no longer America’s fallen and disgraced boxing champion. He was reborn, even exalted, as an American global ambassador of sport and even of political goodwill. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a Hollywood group loosely known as Hollywood 9/11 —  which worked with the Bush administration to support the war on terrorism  —  promoted happy images of American life to film audiences in Africa and the Middle East. And whom did they choose to be their star pitchman? "You guessed it, Ali," Hutchinson wrote.

"During the next decade, the honors continued to flow to him. Presidents, heads of state, and foreign dignitaries, all hailed him as an authentic American hero and icon. But Ali’s struggle with Parkinson’s Disease had clearly taken its toll. Yet the rare times he appeared in public, I noted that he still had that same ingratiating smile he greeted me with those years earlier. And he would snap out an occasional playful jab to swooning and adoring admirers.  Despite everything, Ali was and would always be mine and the world’s 'peoples champ' and yes, the greatest," Hutchinson ended.

Hutchinson also submitted the following statement and photos in The Hutchinson Report: "This is the Muhammad Ali the World Must Also Remember!"