This weekend, the Shade Room attended the opening of the Holy Day of Atonement Historical Exhibit in Atlanta on behalf of the #LivingTestimonyFoundation! The curator, Morehouse Man Eric Majette (@mrmajestic), opened up the exhibit which features over 75 artifacts from the legacies of the Honorable #ElijahMuhammad, Minister #LouisFarrakhan, #MarcusGarvey, #MartinLutherKingKingJr, #AngelaDavis, #KathleenCleaver, #MalcolmX and #MuhammadAli just to name a few! We can’t tell you everything you’ll see in the exhibit, but some of the pieces include the original Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier fight poster as well as some of the original Jet magazines that the late boxer covered!
One of the most interesting pieces was a Rinkeydinks Souvenir Journal for the Joe Louis Dinner Dance, held on November 28, 1971 in which the boxer was being honored as Man of the Year. Erica Majette tells us that the piece was “signed on the first page in black ink by Joe Louis, in blue ballpoint by Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and in black felt tip by Jackie Robinson. Inside bears photos of Louis in and out of the ring and printed tributes from friends and businesses including Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dizzy Gillespie. It was a star-studded tribute to one of the greatest heavyweights of all time!”
A then, 57 year old Louis was getting up in age and couldn’t fight anymore and had fallen on hard times. Ali, Frazier and Robinson had put together this fundraiser to raise money for their friend. From there, Eric and I had a conversation in which we both found it ironic that these athletes had laid the groundwork for athletes such as Colin Kaepernick and Brandon Marshall to stick together for a greater good.
Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the #BlackPantherParty and the exhibit features a few rare pieces of the organization’s history such as Angela Davis’ original wanted poster and writings from Eldridge Cleaver. His wife, Kathleen Cleaver, stopped by the exhibit and was very impressed by the things she saw! Ishmael Muhammad, son of Elijah Muhammad stopped by as well.
The exhibit will be open from Monday, October 17th to Saturday, October 22nd as well as Monday, October 24th to Saturday, October 29th by appointment only!! If you and your family would love to witness the historical artifacts that are present at the museum, then please email mailto:christal@enchantedpr.net!
TSR STAFF: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on Instagram & @tallyohhh on Twitter!
