THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502210090
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Most school children have to go to museums or art galleries to see genuine African art.
But for Roberts Park Elementary students, the art has come to them.
Barbara N. Peterson is a pre-kindergarten teacher's aide at the school. Her son, Steven Cameron Newsome, is director of the internationally acclaimed Anacostia Museum in Washington. The museum, a part of the Smithsonian, is dedicated to black art and history. Newsome has sent his mother artwork and artifacts collected during his travels at home and abroad, including visits to South Africa, Ghana and other African states.
During Black History Month, Peterson has pooled her collection with those of fellow teachers Marvette Munden and Etta Baum and fifth-grader Tange Carter. It was Munden's idea; the result is two display cases filled with items normally seen only in museums. These include clothing, jewelry, a mask, wall decorations, wooden sculpture, and pictures and postcards from such places as Ghana and South Africa.
There's an enormous ostrich egg with several pictures hand-painted on it, resting on a wooden pedestal. And there are delicate, handmade earrings shaped like fish.
``The fish is the symbol of God,'' Peterson said.
Two items were not in the display cases. Peterson was wearing a colorful African split-skirt outfit and an elegant, handmade black cameo. She paused in front of one of the display cases to explain her attire to the children, making a distant culture come alive for her youthful audience.
``I like it,'' noted Sierra Hicks, a third-grader.
There is a handmade bracelet bought in an African market, Peterson said. A handmade collar of beads and a necklace are next to it. There is a brightly colored beret and a kufi, also worn on the head, as well as a handmade wallet. A caftan, a house dress, decorated with a peacock, hangs in the rear of the display case, looking ready for someone to slip into it.
A kente cloth hangs in one of the cases, along with a handmade mud cloth wall hanging from South Africa. There are dashikis, worn by men or boys, and a boubou, an African dress.
In one of the two cases the centerpiece is a framed color photograph, taken in Washington of a group of people, including Newsome with South African President Nelson Mandela.
``When he was in South Africa, my son visited the prison where Mandela was held,'' Peterson said. ``He also went to the slave markets there.''
For Newsome and his mother, history and heritage are very real. Thanks to the museum-quality art and artifacts now on display at the school, they are for the students of Roberts Park Elementary as well. by CNB