With Black History Month approaching, one area artist and collector aims to look back on how far civil rights have come.
Tanya Thompson, a native Chicagoan, has a house filled with history.
I have been to Tanya's house
and when I walked in I was like Tanya, this is a museum. We could put your house on exhibition and have people come through here,' said Winsome Chunnu Assistant Director of Multicultural Programs at Ohio University.
Chunnu and Thompson decided to organize an exhibit of some of Tanya's personal collection. Mostly photos
with a few pieces of various other mediums
the pieces are a combination of items Thompson inherited and purchased.
Thompson's goal is that the pieces will help people understand black history.
Too many Americans of all persuasions do not realize that solidly placed black people have been in existence since the beginning of America, and I think that if I could teach anybody - black, white, rich, poor, Native American, Asian or other - I think that that is what I would teach, she said.
Growing up one and a half blocks from where President Barack Obama lived before his presidency and coming from a family whose past is filled with accomplishments
Tanya says her history is something she is proud of.
That history is not only tied into the Chicago area
but the Athens area as well.
My husband's great-great -uncle actually taught school at the big office building at Richland Avenue. So it's really exciting to know that we are walking these streets, and here one of my husband's ancestors in the 1800's was teaching here, Thompson said.
Ray Abraham
an Athens resident and friend of Thompson's
has a connection to the show as well.
There is one picture of a married couple back in 1920, and when I went through the exhibit, I said, That's my mother and my father.' So I was surprised when I saw that
Abraham said.
In the end, Thompson said she hopes people see how much history there is in the Athens area, and that they keep that history alive.
I am sharing the history with the world through this exhibit and letting people know what history really is. It's not about black history or white history or American history because I am all of those things
and that's what the collection shows
