At the Amelia Island Genealogical Society a few weeks back, a woman mentioned the Smithsonian Institution’s Journey Stories exhibit traveling the United States. I looked into it and found that Florida was one of the tour’s early stops. The Gateway Center for the Arts in DeBary, Florida, is currently hosting the exhibit through October 13th.
This is how the Smithsonian Institution describes Journey Stories:
Journey stories are tales of how we and our ancestors came to America – are a central element of our personal heritage. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell. Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything – families and possessions – to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.
The reasons behind those decisions are myriad. Many chose to move, searching for something better in a new land. Others had no choice, like enslaved Africans captured and relocated to a strange land and bravely asserting their own cultures, or like Native Americans already here, who were often pushed aside by newcomers. Our transportation history is more than trains, boats, buses, cars, wagons, and trucks. The development of transportation technology was largely inspired by the human drive for freedom.
The traveling exhibit will also be in Sebring and Dunedin, Florida later this year and in early 2013. Click here to see the complete schedule.
Don’t miss out on this meaningful exhibit.