Appreciating 'the culture': Dalton State College's Black Student Union opens cultural museum

Mar. 3—For generations, Black culture has been a prominent fixture in everyday life in America, "but it has not always been appreciated," said Brenda Oladejo, president of Dalton State College's Black Student Union (BSU).

"Everyone has seen our culture, but many don't really understand the history behind it," she said.

Faced with that, Oladejo and executive board members of the BSU came together to create the college's Black Cultural Museum, which officially opened Wednesday inside Dalton State's Pope Student Center.

Capping off Black History Month, the museum contains posters made to resemble a newspaper that line the walls of the Pope Student Center's Eddie Miller Room and detail the history of several contributions African Americans have made that have shaped both the local community and the world.

"The Black Cultural Museum really talks about African American culture after the 1960s," Oladejo said. "People can learn about fashion, music, food and leaders among other things. It really just tries to explain the culture that everybody has seen around them."

As songs from popular African American musical pioneers such as Stevie Wonder, Ben E. King and Aretha Franklin played over a loudspeaker, visitors walked through the museum gallery and read about the history of everything from Black fashion, such as acrylic nail art and sneaker culture, to African American music and dance that have had a lasting impression, from "The Twist" to the "Cha-Cha Slide." Other exhibits showcase popular slang, food and hairstyles throughout the years.

Showing Black pride and love

"I think it's really awesome and really cool," said Samuel Belony, a junior at Dalton State. "I feel like this represents people's acknowledgment of our history, the things that we have been through and just our presence in society today and how regular it is for us to be here."

Nydasia Caldwell, a member of the college's BSU, put together the exhibit on "Hair Love," which explores the origins of African American hairstyles and movements, including braids, Afros and twists. She said the museum is an opportunity for everyone to "appreciate the culture."

"To have it here means that everyone can come in, look around and see the history of Black students and trailblazers," Caldwell said. "Like the slang that everyone would use and where it originated from, and the hair that we wear out. It's just to show Black pride and Black love."

Caldwell said she was inspired to create a poster for Black hairstyles "because I have a deep-rooted history with my hair and I just feel like every Black person should be able to appreciate their hair and every other race should be able to appreciate the amount of work we put into it."

One exhibit touches on the local impact of past and present African American leaders within Dalton State, including a section on Rita Jackson Samuels, who helped found a multitude of education programs across the state before passing away in 2018, such as the First Ladies Archive Project, "which included the profiles of Georgia first ladies within the state archives," and Women Flying High LLC, which helped build alliances to strengthen female-owned small businesses and increase the share of government contracts for women.

Dalton State College President John Fuchko III said the opening of the museum is "a part of supporting our students and student groups."

"Really, the goal is to support all of our students and be able to recognize and celebrate those things that make us unique and make us different," Fuchko said. "A lot of us grew up surrounded by people different than us, so it's neat having all of that experience all in one place where there's a lot of different people with different backgrounds and different ways of thinking about things."

Part of the college's efforts, Fuchko said, include "surveying all of our students and helping all of them to understand and learn about different cultures, different communities and different ways of living and thriving while figuring out what that lived experience means for each person. With all of this, it's learning to respect and honor everyone for who they are and where they come from as fellow humans."

'A different perspective'

The museum also features a "make your own grill" activity, where visitors can learn about the history of grills, a form of dental jewelry with roots in ancient civilizations such as the Mayans and Etruscans and more modernly popularized in the 1980s as a fashion item amid the growing hip-hop and rap movements. Visitors can create their own paper grill with colored markers.

Javon Smith, a Dalton State student visiting the museum, said the feature is "really important."

"Having this here is a chance to educate people who might not know about Black culture and show them something cool or something that they may have never seen before. Something that maybe their parents didn't teach them," Smith said. "And I think it will give them a different perspective. I really think it's important for people to see this."

Dalton State student Valerie Aguirre said the exhibits are very educational.

"Some people might see certain things about the Black community, like the music and the style, but they don't understand it because they don't know the culture," Aguirre said. "But being able to experience something like this, it helps them understand the culture a little better."

Belony said shining a spotlight on Black culture not just throughout the month of February but year-round, is "amazing."

"I think it's such a beautiful thing that Black History Month is celebrated every year, not just here on campus, but everywhere period," he said. "Because it reinforces our feet on this soil, especially at the Dalton State campus. I feel like it represents the statement that everyone is here. It used to not be that way. People didn't always accept Black people having their feet planted on the ground."

'Everything has a history'

In 2023, Oladejo said the BSU curated an African American Art Museum on campus, which chronicled prominent art and art styles throughout African American history.

"I'm hoping that every year there will be a different museum here," she said. "Last year was art and this year is all about culture. As for next year, I'm not sure what we will decide to do quite yet."

Throughout the year the BSU hosts educational and social events around the college. The BSU has 130 members, with five members serving on the executive board. Oladejo became the BSU's second student president two years ago after the graduation of the first president, Evanna Bonese.

Oladejo said organizing the museums on campus is a way to showcase a part of history that is not always understood.

"I just want people to understand that everything has a history," Oladejo said. "And sometimes, knowing that history can make it easier to show appreciation for what other people have been through so we can have the things that we have."