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| RARITIES: a collection of poems written by Phillis Wheatley are among the prized items in The Chris Webber Collection of African-American
Artifacts and Documents. His collection is on exhibit at the Central Library in Sacramento, Calif. courtesy of the chris webber collection |
Basketball's Chris Webber gives a clinic – in African-American lore
The Golden State Warriors forward turns a personal passion into a pass-along for the next generation.
from the February 27, 2008 edition
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After gaining fame in college as one of the University of Michigan's "Fab Five" – a team that played in two consecutive NCAA championship games in 1992 and 1993 – Webber went on to the National Basketball Association, where, in a career that has not been without controversy, he also picked up some hefty professional paychecks.
That offered him the means to explore a personal passion – purchasing pieces of African-American history.
Webber also loves to share with students the story of influential African-American orator and diplomat Frederick Douglass: "I tell them about ... how he was taught to read by a slave master's daughter, how he was influential in our government, how he spoke to President [Lincoln] on behalf of African-Americans, and how he was a great orator."
When students see the actual documents in the handwriting of these famous Americans, "it kind of just brings it alive.... I just try to get them involved in history ... and [see] that we [African-Americans] can overcome any obstacles and don't have to make any excuses."
"Both children and adults know Chris Webber as a basketball player ... but many don't know Chris Webber as a collector," says Bamidele Demerson, director of education, research, and exhibitions at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit (www.maah-detroit.org), where Webber has shown portions of his collection. "To have a person of his stature involved in the collection of artifacts and documents gives an awareness that we can all do this ... that it's OK also for them to collect documents and artifacts that tell their story."
After students learn about such figures as Wheatley; Douglass; Gen. Toussaint Louverture, who led a successful slave rebellion in Haiti; Carver; and Dr. King, they begin to see that these achievers' stories have common elements, Mr. Demerson explains. "[They're] tied together in ways that are not always immediately recognizable."
Though Webber's collection started out as a personal passion, he now sees it as much more than that. "Children need to know that there's more to them than their immediate family," he says. "I think this gives kids pride – from all races."
• More information about Webber and his collection is available on his website (www.chriswebber.com). Items from the collection are on view in the lobby of the Sacramento, Calif., Central Library (www.saclibrary.org) until March 2 as part of Black History Month.
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