MICHIGAN
A collection of African-American artifacts is on display this weekend in East Lansing, highlighting the harsher aspects of history - from the slave trade to the civil rights movement.
The Middle Passage African American traveling exhibit, with more than 250 artifacts dating back centuries, has taken residence in the second floor of the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, through Sunday.
Above glass displays filled with rusted iron shackles and ragged leather whips, the weary faces of freed slaves stare from the Reconstruction-period tin-type photographs.
James Petty and his wife, Mary Anne, the owners of the exhibit, were busy finishing up the final touches on their display Wednesday afternoon - the same display that has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN and Black Entertainment Television.
"We want to tell the truth," said Petty, adding that Americans, from the time they first learn about slavery in school, are given a sugarcoated version of African-American history.