Visiting the Hampton Institute in Virginia with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Hampton Institute in Virginia by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I discovered the Hampton Institute at the end of our stay in Virginia and could not believe that I almost missed visiting such an excellent museum.

The Hampton Institute was set up in 1868 to educate African-Americans and Native-Americans.  The school’s most famous graduate was Booker T. Washington.

The Museum houses masterworks such as African-American artist Henry Ossawa’s The Banjo Lesson painted in 1895.  The West African art collection has a full regalia medicine man’s outfit and armchairs in it.

While we were there, the museum was holding a special exhibition about the Harlem Renaissance painters William Johnson and Malvin Johnson.

I was surprised that we were the only visitors at the museum.  It was a gem.

Lunch at the air-conditioned Pizza Hut afterwards - mushroom-cheese pizza with a large salad.  I still eat this combination and am a well-preserved, middle-aged woman.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Air and Space Museum in Hampton (Virginia) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Air and Space Museum in Hampton (Virginia) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent did not have to work on his birthday and wanted to visit a museum.  We headed out to the Air and Space Museum in Hampton for a day at the Museum and a light lunch afterwards.

There were several kinds of exhibits there with hi-tech and bio-tech displays among the exhibits.  We all liked the exhibit showing how raptor-vultures, falcons, and owls fly.

Florence and I listened to a neat computer program that showed the different kinds of owls and listened to the different hooting sounds they made.

One of the exhibits showed a naval airman with his yellow jacket, orange pointers, and gray ear protection on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

“That’s the same stuff I wear on the ship,” Laurent told Florence, who became immediately interested.

We all liked the Apollo 12 Space Module.  I remembered what one astronaut said about this Module, “I am entrusting my life to an object made by the lowest bidder.”

Another exhibit I liked was about the African-American Tuskegee fliers in World War II.  They were the first “black” fighter pilots.  Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit was one of them.  (I grew up in Detroit, so I shared with Florence why that exhibit was very important.)

After the museum, we went to Pizza Hut and loved the air-conditioning.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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