The collection includes more than 7,000 artifacts that represent a variety time periods, including pieces from the Transatlantic slave trade all the way up to pieces from current times.

El-Hakim collected the artifacts of the museum himself.

“The museum was started because of my experience of being a student in the K-12 system and there being omissions of black history in the curriculum and textbooks we were reading,” el-Hakim said. “I just knew instinctively, from just my own understanding of this life, that we had made a lot more contributions to society than what we were learning about in class.” 

He began to fill in the gaps he felt were missing in college. El-Hakim sifted through antique shops, used bookstores, garage sales and flea markets to string together this collection. 

The public can view the museum from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 950 Abbot Road. El-Hakim will speak at 1 p.m. 

“The takeaway would be for people to be inspired to go do research on their own,” el-Hakim said. “To have a lense, to critique school curriculums, as well as museums that have voices that are marginalized or silenced in those spaces.”