85. The John G. Riley House is All That Remains of Smokey Hollow. Althemese Barnes Turned It Into a Museum on Tallahassee’s Black History
Welcome to Museum Archipelago in Your Inbox, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Museum Archipelago, your audio guide to the rocky landscape of museums, is hosted by me, Ian Elsner.
During the period of Jim Crow and the Black Codes, a self-sustaining Black enclave called Smokey Hollow developed near downtown Tallahassee, Florida. As the first Black principal of Lincoln High School, John G. Riley was a critical part of the neighborhood. In 1890, he built a two-story house for his family—only about three blocks from where he was born enslaved.
In the 1960s, the city of Tallahassee seized and destroyed the neighborhood as part of an urban renewal project through eminent domain. Riley's house was all that remained, thanks to activists who fought its demolition. Althemese Barnes was determined not to let the history fade: as founding director of John G. Riley Research Center and Museum, she transformed the building into a place where people can learn about Smokey Hollow.
In this episode, Barnes talks about creating a museum to connect with young visitors, the process of becoming familiar with Florida's museum organizations which are often resistant to interpreting Black history, and the long process of building a commemoration to Smokey Hollow in Tallahassee’s urban landscape.
“There are many ways to interpret history through aspects of this house. One of the first things I did when I came here, I said, “we don't want to just be a museum with pictures on the wall.” I wanted to document history that has been ignored, neglected.” - Althemese Barnes
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The John G. Riley House was last remaining building of the Smokey Hollow neighborhood in Tallahassee. The building that is now the National Public Housing Museum was the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes, the first public housing development in Chicago. In both cases, the surviving building serves as a stand-in for the entire community.
In 2018, we spoke with Robert J. Smith III, who was then the associate director of the National Public Housing Museum, about why it was important to preserve that building instead of starting from scratch.
“Frankly, would have been much cheaper to build a museum from scratch on the open land that once was the Jane Adams Homes, then to go through the trouble of saving the last remaining building. But for us, the power of place is so important that was really important for folks to walk through and get the look and feel”. - Robert J. Smith III