Researchers at the Germantown Historical Society identified the museum's ballroom as Parker Hall.
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The question stunned Althea Hankins, a Germantown family physician on a flight from California to Philadelphia.
"You're a Negro, aren't you?" asked an older white man.
Taken aback by the outdated term, Hankins said, she replied, "Yes, I guess so."
Hankins said the stranger on that 1999 trip then told her that he collected memorabilia, and showed her an old pamphlet bearing the headline "Negro soldiers party - 5801 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
"I told him, 'That's impossible. My practice is located there,' " Hankins said.
But, of course, she was curious. So later that year, she had a wall removed that blocked the third floor of the building at Germantown Avenue and Price Street.
She found a vintage ballroom with a wooden floor, hidden behind that partition for many years and clearly large enough to have hosted the soldiers' party.
"I couldn't believe it. I decided that we had an opportunity here to do something totally different," Hankins said.
What she did was launch the Aces Museum, a 3,000- square-foot facility spread over the second and third floors above her community medical practice. The museum - admission is free - tells the stories of black servicemen in World World II through photographs, military medals, and memorabilia that include historical uniforms and other artifacts.
Complete article at
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20080404_Phila__museum_showcases_minorities_in_WWII.html
*
The question stunned Althea Hankins, a Germantown family physician on a flight from California to Philadelphia.
"You're a Negro, aren't you?" asked an older white man.
Taken aback by the outdated term, Hankins said, she replied, "Yes, I guess so."
Hankins said the stranger on that 1999 trip then told her that he collected memorabilia, and showed her an old pamphlet bearing the headline "Negro soldiers party - 5801 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
"I told him, 'That's impossible. My practice is located there,' " Hankins said.
But, of course, she was curious. So later that year, she had a wall removed that blocked the third floor of the building at Germantown Avenue and Price Street.
She found a vintage ballroom with a wooden floor, hidden behind that partition for many years and clearly large enough to have hosted the soldiers' party.
"I couldn't believe it. I decided that we had an opportunity here to do something totally different," Hankins said.
What she did was launch the Aces Museum, a 3,000- square-foot facility spread over the second and third floors above her community medical practice. The museum - admission is free - tells the stories of black servicemen in World World II through photographs, military medals, and memorabilia that include historical uniforms and other artifacts.
Complete article at
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20080404_Phila__museum_showcases_minorities_in_WWII.html
