Lincolnville

Saint Augustine, FL

March 25th, 2022

The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center (LMCC) is an African American history museum located in the Lincolnville neighborhood of Saint Augustine. The museum is housed in the historic Excelsior School Building, which served as the first public black high school in Saint John’s County in 1925. After desegregation, the school was closed, and the building housed government offices until the mid-1980s. After the offices were phased out of use, a group of former Excelsior students and community members rallied to save the building from demolition. 

Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center Link

Artifact #1

These are Ceremonial knives with sheaths dating back to the Kuba People of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Kuba court and nobles had crafted for themselves prestigious objects of which reinforced their concepts of status and power. 

Artifact #2

This artifact has a lot of emotion attached to it. It is called an Obelisk, created by Joe Segal. The purpose of this design was to represent the chief and tribe. The nails and shards embedded symbolize the trials and hardships that tribes had to endure. This idea considers an image produced next to the obelisk, a power figure. The power figure represents a chief, and his posture is straight and proud; the obelisk also has a proud stance, but the challenges that it has to endure are often unseen or forgotten. A constitution represents the ideals of a group of people, and the document has to stand up to attacks on these principles. If Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, and Compassion were not under attack, the constitution would be dismal. 

Exterior #1

Exterior #2

 

In conversation #1

This is a book called "Endangered"; the book's premise is that it's a story of a girl who must save a group of bonobos and herself from a violent coup in the Congo. The Congo is a dangerous place, so when Sophie has to visit her mother at her sanctuary for bonobos, she is not thrilled to be there. Then Otto, a baby bonobo, comes into her life, and for the first time, she feels responsible for another creature. But peace does not last long for Sophie and Otto. When an armed revolution breaks out in the country, the sanctuary is attacked, and the two of them must escape unprepared into the jungle. Caught in the crosshairs of a lethal conflict, they must struggle to keep safe, eat, and live. In "Endangered," Eliot Schrefer plunges us into a heart-stopping exploration of what we do to survive, the sacrifices we make to help others, and the tangled geography that ties us all, human and animal, together.​ I chose this book as a conversation piece due to the ceremonial Knives and sheaths found in the Lincolnville Museum and cultural center; they are from and made in the Congo. 

Endangered Book

In conversation #2

Although all the European colonies went through dark times in history, there's one that is rarely discussed. The Congo Free State only existed beginning from 1885 to 1908. In those 23 years, it was owned by the King Leopold II of the Belgians. 13 million people lived in this supposedly independent country whose king reigned cruelly. Having ruled the state, Leopold II believed that human lives were his property, which is why they suffered horrendous abuse. Leopold secretly hired people to support his colonial ambitions in disguise for charity. Thus began a period of inhumane and, in some ways, impossible labor work. In 1980, African American Baptist minister George Washington Williams traveled to the Congo Free State. He was stunned to witness the brutality and wrote a letter to the king, saying he didn't appreciate the inhumane treatment of the locals. Following the letter, public outrage soon followed. The European press brought awareness of Congo's reality to the rest of the world in 1904. While the Congo Free State existed, it saw the deaths of not less than 10 million people, half its population. Nothing at this point could cover up the crimes that were occurring openly in the name of the king. Hence, the Belgian government forced Leopard II to end his rule over the Congo Free State and give it to them. Ultimately, Congo became a Belgian colony on November 15th, 1908. I chose this image because I found it while researching to find the endangered book; it reminded me a lot of this book.

Image Article

Creative component 

Literary component 

On page 130 in the novel Parable of the Sower, a text box narrates the decimated environment.  "The neighborhood was wide open and crawling with scavengers." I chose this quote because it reminds me of King Leopold II and his conquest of the congo and its people. The king owned this land and its people, reigning cruelly- taking many citizens' homes and lives. I connected these two because the congo was "wide open," and the king took it, having his people dish out horrendous abuse under the disguise of charity "crawling with scavengers," who shared his colonial ambitions.

The Lightner Museum

Saint Augustine, FL

March 10th, 2022

The Lightner Museum is an iconic building in the heart of Saint Augustine. It is an extraordinary museum collection offering beautiful, curious, and intriguing artifacts.  This museum occupies the former Hotel Alcazar, a Gilded Age resort hotel commissioned by Henry Flagler, and provides an immersive experience of art, architecture, history, and design.

The Lightner Museum Informational Link

Artifact #1

This is a statute of Cleopatra made by Raffaelo Romanelli in the late 19th century. Its imposing presence and effortless elegance define the sculpture. While the Cleopatra statue is not original to St. Augustine, its standard connection was Raffaelo himself, creating the lion sculptures that grace the Bridge of Lions. 

Artifact #2

This image depicts an Indian Maid with the United States Flag. It is speculated that this piece is from 1930 in the Chicago area. Due to many large mansions being demolished and the architectural features were sold. This door is assumed to have come from one of those victorian homes. 

Exterior #1

Exterior #2

In Conversation #1

The Pyramid of Khafre is also known as the Pyramid of Chephren because this name is called Khafre. It is known as the second tallest Pyramid in ancient Egypt and is located next to the famous Pyramid of his father, Khufu. The Pyramid may appear higher than the Pyramid of Khufu because of the higher bedrock it's built on. It is also the second-largest Pyramid located in the Giza necropolis and is made the same way as those of the other Pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty. It was brought into the limelight of the modern world in the early 19th century by the famous Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni. Still, unfortunately, the Pyramid was found to be empty of the mummy of Khafre, and many of the stone casings have seemed to have been stolen at a much earlier point in time, presumably during the reign of the Pharaohs of later dynasties. Due to the statue used to commemorate Cleopatra, I thought about how Egyptians mummified imperative people. That thought led me to think about Khufu; I wanted to learn something new, so I learned about one of his other sons, Khafre. 

Valley Temple of Khafre image link

In Conversation #2

Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements with 1,000 distinct characters. Cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. Hieroglyphs consisted of three kinds of glyphs: phonetic glyphs, single-consonant characters that function like an alphabet; logographs, representing morphemes; and determinatives, which narrow down the meaning of logographic or phonetic words. The museum had a small section dedicated to a mummified figure. Upon the walls surrounding the individual, there were many of what I interpreted as some form of hieroglyphs. Therefore, being immersed in this world of Ancient Egypt, I felt it was a gratifying and vital topic to write about. 

Hieroglyphs image link

Creative Component

Literary Component 

My literary component comes from Pablo Neruda's One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII. The quote goes, "I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly between the shadow and the soul." I chose this because it reminds me of how people find joy and meaning in art, whether dark or realistic. For example, in the Lightner, a mummy is showcased. But most draw solace or some form of pleasure in dark art or themes, which reminded me of Neruda finding his love in the shadow and darkness.