Comments on: Dr. James Cameron, Museum Founder and Lynching Survivor

By: Rheta Jane Wellman

Rheta Jane Wellman — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:04:46 +0000

James is an inspiration for all man kind. It would have been great if Dr. Cameron could have lived long enough to witness President Obama’s election in 2008.

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 02:59:10 +0000

Often I am amazed at how dismissive and willfully ignorant the general population strives to be. I am always blown away when I hear folks talk about “the Holocaust,” and follow those talks with hateful words toward Hitler and his followers. Not to take away the importance of what happened in the ghettos, death camps, work camps, and etc., how could we be so hesitant to acknowledge the atrocities in our own house? We will never forget Auschwitz, but are very quick to sum up the struggles of African Americans through quotes from Dr. King and Rosa Parks. No one wants to read the stories or see the photos because we don’t want to believe what we are capable of. But when the video of Sadaam Housein’s hanging went viral, people downloaded it and played it again and again. As long as we feel justified, or that we are being vindicated for something, there is no limit to the things we do to each other. So we don’t want to know the truth. We celebrate one month a year on the calendars and buy extra copies of Disney’s Princess and the Frog to give out at Christmas, and we call it progress. COINTELPRO didn’t happen, and we didn’t kill innocent people or torture anyone. There were some protests and Civil Rights was born. History needs to be rewritten.
I only inadvertently stumbled across Dr. Cameron’s story. It is remarkable as it is unsettling, and we all should know it. When people act this way, we say they’re acting like animals. Nature may be cruel, but animals don’t treat each other the way we do. What we do is uniquely, and tragically human.

By: dr_fran

dr_fran — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 03:04:45 +0000

Brandy, thank you for your comment about the meaningfulness of Dr. Cameron’s work and teachings. Were he still with us, I’m sure he would appreciate the sentiment, as all of us at ABHM do. There are many ways to oppose the racism in our country, and I hope you find a way that fits for you. As a start, I invite you to take the pledge and join with other freedom lovers on ABHM’s Freedom Lovers Roll Call Wall at http://www.abhmuseum.org/freedom-lovers-roll-call-wall/

By: Brandy Johnson

Brandy Johnson — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 04:38:42 +0000

I want you to know that I praise you in all the work that you have done for the blacks. I am so sorry that you had to go thru what you did but it has taught us all something that we need to understand. As a white I am very ashamed of my race. I hate to see the hell that you had to go thru at the hands of whites. God Bless you and all that you do

By: dr_fran

dr_fran — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:45:08 +0000

Yes, the piece of rope from the lynching is part of Dr. Cameron’s estate, owned by his heirs.

By: Spencer Crew

Spencer Crew — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:49:05 +0000

Dr. Cameron had an amazing life story. Does the fragment of rope he saved from the lynching still exist?

By: Seri

Seri — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:55:53 +0000

I am grateful for this Museum, so many things that I should already know but didn’t I can be sure to teach my children and grandchildren and will share the link from time to time on my facebook/Twitter/Pintrest to be sure people know to stop by

By: Daniel Skopp

Daniel Skopp — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:28:19 +0000

In my opinion, this Museum is very much in need of being “brought back to life” It is a History of our Culture and our inhumane treatment of our fellow man!!

By: dr_fran

dr_fran — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 05:03:23 +0000

Monique, thanks for asking. There is lots of information about the origins of the word “picnic” on the web. I particularly recommend the answer provided here (http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/jan04.htm) on the site of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilial explains how the original French word, which just meant a kind of meal, got connected to act of lynching. To quote a part of that piece:

“It is clear that picnic was not derived from “pick-a-nigger,” “pick-a-nig,” or similar racist phrases. However, some of the almost 4,000 blacks who were lynched between 1882 and 1962 were lynched in settings that are appropriately described as picnic-like. Phillip Dray, a historian, stated: ‘Lynching was an undeniable part of daily life, as distinctly American as baseball games and church suppers. Men brought their wives and children to the events, posed for commemorative photographs, and purchased souvenirs of the occasion as if they had been at a company picnic.’”

By: Monique Bell

Monique Bell — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:24:53 +0000

My friends and I where having a discussion on the word Picnic. Some people are saying that it come from pic a nigger and other say that it is something that black people have made up, if there is any information that you have so that I can post it on my page it would be greatly appricated.