Have you ever heard of the Latibah Collard Greens Museum? When I first heard of it I thought, Oh wow! a museum about Collard greens. But, then I thought, how much info can they actually have or present on Collard greens and once you go, why would you go back?
Well, come to find out, it’s not about Collard Greens after all.
This museum is an artistic venture of one man, of T’Afo Feimster. He is not just an artist but an activist and playwright. He owns the art museum, which consists of several studios within the warehouse. Surrounded by popular art exhibits, like the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Feimster has something quite unique for viewing. He believes that his Art work is still in progress ever changing and evolving. His museum is open to the public. Feimster has a degree in Business and finance. He would have liked to major in art but knew that this was not a lucrative option for a Black American in the 60′s. He learned wood-working from his father at an early age and mastered at painting on his own. He spent over 30 years working for IBM in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He has four children, of whom he is very proud. Torrey his son is the editor of a well known magazine in North Carolina called "Pride" and his other son Tye is "Prides" photographer. Feimster has several studios for actual working artists, 13 to be exact. Feimster had always been interested in Black History in America. He studied and researched on his own and then one day he had an idea. Why not make the museum about the Black experience through art, sculptures, and settings. Hence the word "Latibah" which is an acronym for "Life and Times in Black American History." The first observation depicts the beginning. The Western African art work, sculptures line the hallways.
He has an inner chamber where he has re-creations of slave ships to demonstrate the hardships and living conditions regarding the slave transport There are rooms that are recreated to look like slave cabins. There is a room that depicts a Barber shop and a room that looks like a juke joint. There is a jail cell that is fashioned after a Birmingham jail cell where Dt. Martin Luther King was jailed. He could take it even further, but his space is far to small. He is in the process of trying to find a larger place. Why the name Collard Greens? Well Feimster researched this stapled food and liked the way it has been passed down from generation to generation. He also makes reference to the fact that it even grows well in poor soil, Which could be a spiritual parallel to the history of Blacks in America
Address & Phone:
ArtHouse – NoDa
3103 Cullman Ave.
Charlotte, NC 28206
Phone: 704-737-8097
