My Hopes for the Fortune’s Bones Project

November 3, 2011
By Larry Broxton

Guest blogger Larry Broxton is the Chief of Public Relations and Marketing for the the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. He serves on the Fortune’s Bones Advisory Group.

I heard of Fortune’s Bones in 2008 when a friend in New Mexico mentioned working at the Mattatuck Museum as a curator after graduate school. When our Library System was invited to partner on the project her story came full circle. I couldn’t wait to call her and have her share more of the back story about Fortune and the Mattatuck.

History has always fascinated me, and the chance to relocate from New Mexico to Maryland held significance because of my interest in the Civil War and the political perspectives surrounding the war. The Fortune’s Bones project involves and engages multiple partners and communities in understanding the complex issues surrounding slavery, humanity, culture and science.

As a member of the project committee, I find it invaluable and self-enriching to share ideas around the table with colleagues. Our collective thoughts and feelings have been integrated into the vision that library peers and I will have in presenting Fortune’s Bones to the people served by our 18 branch libraries.

When diverse professional and cultural communities come together with conviction and purpose new levels of consciousness emerge. Our librarians and I are in the process of creating programs around Fortune’s Bones that link school students, teachers, librarians and the public. The project has inspired many of use to affirm common beliefs, re-assess old paradigms and let go of emotional baggage for the sake of personal progress.

The project continues to probe our consciousness and history truly is repeating itself. The committee drew bio-ethical parallels between Marilyn Nelson’s book, Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem, and the recent bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

What a surprise it was to discover that the University’s Undergraduate Studies program had selected Ms. Sklott’s book for its First Year Book, and that the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center would undertaken the Fortune’s Bones project.

My hopes for the project are being realized at every meeting as artistic and cultural performance and thoughtful discussion move us to higher levels of engagement. Committee members feel safe sharing personal experiences and are often awestruck by the inequality, bigotry and hatred in everyday life.