Saturday, July 5, 2008

Participate and/or Volunteer

Volunteer Opportunities

The Alexandria Black History Museum, including the Watson Reading Room, needs volunteers who have an interest in Alexandria's African American history and culture as well as African American history in general.

Volunteers work three-hour shifts, every other week, on a regular basis. Opportunities are also available for teenagers ages 16  to 18.  

Volunteers are needed to: 

         --  Assist with cataloging books for the Watson Reading Room
         --  Assist staff with general administrative duties
         --  Train to give tours of the Center and African American Heritage Park
         --  Act as a receptionist at the Museum's front desk and assist visitors
         --  Work in the museum's collection storage area
         --  Act as an independent research assistant for the Museum, doing research at
             different historic sites and libraries in the metropolitan area.

The Alexandria Society for the Preservation of Black Heritage, Inc. (ASPBH. Inc.)
         P.O. Box 3527
         Alexandria, Virginia 22302

If you are interested in preserving the history of African Americans in Alexandria, you may be interested in The Alexandria Society for the Preservation of Black Heritage.

The Society was formed on August 6, 1980. The original goal of the organization was to preserve the old Alfred Street Baptist Church building, one of the oldest African American Churches in the National Capitol area.

After helping to save Alfred Street Baptist Church, the Society and the Alumni Association of Parker-Gray High School jointly requested that the City of Alexandria enlarge and support the Alexandria Black History Museum in perpetuity, where tangible links to the past history and contributions of African Americans would be preserved.

Activities:

• Document, preserve and promote the early history and impressive contributions of the black community of Alexandria, Virginia.
• Conduct walking tours of the community with special emphasis on black historical sites and contributions.
• Conduct audio-visual and oral history presentations of cultural and historical facts concerning the lifestyles of Alexandria's black community.

Friends of Freedmen's Cemetery   --   http://www.freedmenscemetery.org

Alexandria Black History Museum    |   Watson Reading Room    |    Robert H. Robinson Library
African American Heritage Park    |   Museum Exhibits    |    Museum Collections    |    Education Programs
History of Museum & Related Sites    |    Self-Guided Walking Tour    |   African American History Guide
Alexandria's Black Public Education 1800-1965    |    Alexandria's Early Free Black Neighborhoods
Slave Market and Slave Jail    |   Freedmen's Cemetery    |    Oral History    |    Alexandria's Black Churches
To Witness the Past    |   Windows to the Past    |   Civil War: Fighting for Freedom
Civil War: Black Soldiers of the Civil War    |    Volunteers for Freedom, Part 1
Volunteers for Freedom, Part 2    |    Directions and Fees    |    Alexandria Black History main page