In Loving Memory of Irene S. Mills

Irene S. Mills, wife of pay parity plaintiff, Walter Mills, died on Monday, October 25, 2010 at Anne Arundel Medical Center. She was born on Valentine's day in Morgnec, a small community in Kent County, Maryland. She was the fifth of eight children. She received her elementary school education at Joshua's Chapel. Because Morgnec did not have a high school where African Americans could attend, she traveled by horse and buggy to stay at her aunt's house during the week, so she could attend Garnett High School. Her persistance and hard work generated great dividends. She graduated as the valedictorian from Garnett High School in 1929. In 1931, she again graduated as the valedictorian; this time from Bowie Normal School. She went on to receive a M. A. from New York University. While engaged in the pursuit to obtain more knowledge, she met Walter Mills on the campus of Hampton Institute. The couple married ten years later.

She spent forty-six years serving the children of Maryland as an educator. She taught at Garnett Elementary School in Kent County for eighteen years. In addition, she also taught at Ralph J. Bunch Elementary School and Adams Park Elementary School. She also served as the principal of Ralph J. Bunch Elementary School and Germantown Elementary School, both in Annapolis.

Like her husband, she was involved in several civic organizations. She was the past president of the Salvation Army Board of Directors. She was also a member of United Methodist Women, American Association of University Women, the Friends of Banneker-Douglass Museum, and the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation, whose last meeting she attended. Indeed, her presence at the Friends' and the Foundation's meetings will be missed.

Her husband of 45 years, Walter Mills, died in 1994. She is survived by her daughter, Valerie Mills Cooper, her sister, Alberta Smack, and two grandchildren, Irene Cooper and Royia Cooper Wilson.

Haunted House of History

As Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I would devote my blog posting this month to a question I start to get on my tours and interactions with visitors around this time of year -- is the museum haunted?

When I first started at the museum in 2007, I would get this question every so often when I led tours of the former Mount Moriah Church building. Since the building was constructed in 1874, people thought the building's age equated to a haunted building. I always laughed when I got the question and answered "No, the building isn't haunted. No ghosts here." The person asking the question along with everyone else in their group would smile and breathe a small sigh of relief that I didn't share some spooky story that would have them looking over their shoulder during the remainder of their visit.

Nowadays, I am not so sure. In the past 3.5 years I have been working at the museum we have had some very bizarre unexplained occurrences that no one in the museum can explain to this day. These occurrences always happen after the museum closes for the evening and are seen by staff members when we stay late working. And they are almost always in the former sanctuary of the Mount Moriah building. We have only had one strange unexplained phenomenon occur in the new addition to the building, however that occurrence was a rather big one.

Submitted for your approval: the first of 3 stories from the Banneker-Douglass Museum staff on unexplained events at the museum. I will post the other two stories throughout the week. It is for you to decide, is the museum haunted or is it not?

Light the Night

During the winter of 2008, Exhibitions Specialist Amelia Harris and I stayed late working one evening in the exhibitions office on a new exhibition. The exhibitions office is located on the 3rd floor of the new building, has no windows to see outside the office, and large heavy doors that muffle most sound from entering the office. We were the last remaining people in the building and stayed until nearly 7:00 p.m. As it was wintertime, night fell early and it was completely dark as we prepared to leave for the night. We left the exhibitions office for the evening with Amelia departing the museum and I returned to my office in the lower level of the former church building to shut down my office before leaving for the night.

When I left the museum 5 minutes later, I looked up at the sanctuary windows in the lobby and did not notice anything amiss, noting all of the museum lights were off and everything was properly shut down for the night. However when I went outside and looked up I saw the windows in the front of the church completely lit up. Since I had been in the lobby only moments before as well as when we came down in the elevator, I was more than a little spooked. I immediately called Amelia and asked her if she had noticed anything when she left and she agreed with me that the lights had most certainly been turned off. She drove back to the building and stayed on the phone with me while I re-entered and went up to the sanctuary to investigate. Needless to say, I was a little unsettled. When I walked in the sanctuary, lo and behold, the lights on the rose window were shining brightly for all to see. I quickly made my way to the second floor of the sanctuary where I shut off the light and made a hasty exit lest I run into whomever turned the lights on. Once back outside the building Amelia and I checked and rechecked to make sure the lights didn't come back on.

To further your deliberation on the haunting aspect, when the museum is shut down for the evening all of the lights are shut off at 4:00 p.m. You have to physically walk past the area that was lit twice to turn off all of the lights on the second floor of the sanctuary alone.

What do you think? Haunted or my imagination?  Have you ever encountered a ghost or had a scary sighting?

Haunting story number 2 in a few days....

So, Why Am I Here?

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

~Zora Neale Hurston, Harlem Renaissance writer

I wholeheartedly agree with Zora Neale Hurston’s definition of research, regardless of the subject. Being selected as the Volunteer Maryland Coordinator for the 2010-2011 service year at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, has granted me access to satisfy my own “curiosity” about African American history, museum operations, and…myself.

For those who may not know, my name is Joyell Johnson and will be working with the Education and Public Programs manager, Genevieve Kaplan, as the museum’s Volunteer Maryland Coordinator. The Banneker-Douglass Museum has partnered with Volunteer Maryland, a second year, to enhance its volunteer program by recruiting and supervising volunteers. Excitement does not begin to describe my attitude about working with the Banneker-Douglass Museum; I am ecstatic and optimistic about what the coming year entails.

I recently graduated from Washington College, located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities and concentration in Black Studies. I have been a resident of Kent County for ten years and previously grew up in Europe. While at Washington College, I was a 2009 Comegys Bight Fellow and my research topic was “The Evolution of the African American Woman: The Mammy Caricature.” The research I conducted was instrumental for the research project I am currently completing, “The Evolution of the African American Woman: From Mammy to Michelle Obama.” I hope to pursue this topic further in graduate school next fall. Like the museum, I am also committed to preserving African American history, which is why I plan to earn my Ph.D. in the field.

I feel honored to be added to the team at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, even if for a short time.