Summer travel across U.S. holds information, fun for blacks learning about roots - African American museums, galleries and historic sites across the U.S

Jet, June 14, 1993

Whether you travel by bus, airplane, car or train, cities across the U.S. hold a wealth of treasures for Black families to enjoy during their summer vacation as they learn more about their roots.

Whether your destination is New York City or Denver or some point in between, there are bound to be many sites and attractions to entertain and educate the entire family.

If you start out in the Big Apple, no visit would be complete without a trip to the world famous Apollo Theater. This showcase was the starting ground for music luminaries ranging from the late Billy Eckstine to pop icon Ella Fitzgerald.

If you've never been to Baltimore, you're in for a treat. The Blacks in Wax Museum is a popular attraction with realistic replicas of Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois and Malcolm X and other notable Blacks. This river-front city is also home to the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and jazz/blues songstylist Billie Holiday. They live on there in life-sized statues in two local parks devoted to their memories.

The seat of our nation's government attracts countless tourists each year. Black visitors to the District of Columbia will get a special thrill out of touring the home of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The house near Capitol Hill was Douglass' actual residence and is filled with some of the original furnishings.

Atlanta, the Peach of the South, is another mecca for travelers. There the dream of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is being kept alive on a daily basis. It is the headquarters of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and a living memorial to the man and his struggle for equality for all.

The Lorraine Hotel in Memphis where King was fatally wounded is now home of The National Civil Rights Museum. The museum features exhibits highlighting the Civil Rights Movement and a bus display that recalls how Rosa Parks triggered the movement when she refused to give up her seat to a White passenger in 1955.

Also, the town of Henning, Tenn., the boyhood home of the late author Alex Haley, is a popular tourist stopover. It was here that Haley heard relatives tell many of the tales that inspired him to write the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Roots. The house is filled with Haley family members memorabilia and 1930s-style furnishings.

Another point of interest is Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., where the Buffalo Soldiers trained. These unsung heroes finally have been recognized with statues there that capture their gallantry while shedding insight on their lives. They were the first all-Black troops to formally serve in the U.S. Army though they never were given the opportunity to serve their country during the American Revolutionary or Civil Wars.

Travel to any part of Texas in June and join in the revelry that is Juneteenth, the state's official chance to reflect and celebrate the end of slavery. The celebration is so named because while the Emancipation Proclamation was effective in 1863, it wasn't until June 19, 1865 that the news arrived there that Blacks were free.

If a trip through the Midwest is on your agenda, a stop in Chicago is a must. There you'll find the DuSable Museum of African American History, the oldest independent repository of Black history and culture. Masks by African artisans, "wanted" posters for runaway slaves and photographs of the city's first Black mayor, the late Harold Washington, provide a fascinating and comprehensive view of Black history.

Heading farther West, you'll find the American West Museum and Heritage Museum in Denver. A visit here is like reliving the days of the Old West, with the authentic stables, farm and equipment, giving visitors of glimpse of what life was like for Black cowboys during that era.

Whatever destination you choose, sites that are enlightening as well as educational can provide the vacation of a lifetime.