Family Fun Day, African-American Maritime Adventures - Independence Seaport Museum

African-American Maritime Adventures
Family Fun Day
Saturday, August 2

Make navigation signal flags, a maritime sextant, and a West African story collage, try your hand at ship caulking, play Rivers of Africa Geography Jeopardy, and meet – "in-person" – the Philadelphian who was among the first to reach the North Pole on Saturday, August 2, at Independence Seaport Museum's African-American Maritime Adventures Family Fun Day.

All activities run 11 am–4 pm and are free with admission during this program of Black Hands, Blue Seas – The Untold Maritime Stories of African Americans, the Museum's current featured exhibit, which opened in June and runs through March 2009. Additionally, Independence Seaport Museum and the African American Museum in Philadelphia will share a reciprocal admission for the day – visitors who purchase tickets at one museum will be admitted free to the other.

Matthew Henson (as played by History First Hand living history interpreter Keith Henley), who accompanied explorer Robert Peary on his 1909 expedition to the North Pole, will be the Master of Ceremonies and welcome visitors to the day of African-American Maritime Adventures at the Seaport where activities will focus on African Americans famous in the maritime world.

Learn about renowned sail maker James Forten while creating a pendant of signal flags; distinguished statesman and one-time ship caulker Frederick Douglass while trying ship caulking, and ship owner Paul Cuffe while crafting a sextant.

Play Rivers of Africa Geography Jeopardy and discover the importance of rivers and water to Africans, or make a collage with textile artist Rasheeda Bey, while learning about the West African tradition of telling a story in wall hangings. A Family Gallery Guide to Black Hands, Blue Seas will also be available for adults and children to enjoy the exhibit together.

Visitors can also explore the Seaport's two floors of galleries, working wooden boat shop, and two National Historic Landmark Ships berthed in the Penn's Landing Basin – the Spanish-American Cruiser Olympia and the World War II Submarine Becuna. All is included in the admission fee.

On the same day, the African American Museum will host Discovering James Forten, with a living history interpreter depicting Forten and a fun "seek-and-find" throughout the Museum for information on this notable African-American sail maker, inventor, businessman and abolitionist. Also learn the art of paper folding in the Origami Sailing Ship Workshop.

African-American Maritime Adventures Family Fun Day at Independence Seaport Museum is supported in part by PECO, the Connelly Foundation, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Upcoming Black Hands, Blue Seas programs include Secret Symbols in African Textiles & African-American Quilts, a lecture by Pennsylvania Humanities Council folklorist Cassandra Stancil Gunkel on October 18; Voices of Africa, an all-women a capella and percussion ensemble on November 10, and an African Mariner Festival, co-organized by ODUNDE on March 14. Learn more about Black Hands, Blue Seas programs here »

The African American Museum is located at 701 Arch St. Visit www.aampmuseum.org or call 215.574.0380 for more information.

Events & Exhibits