♪ Yeah I'm waking up
- Welcome back to
Good Day Stateline.
A museum is a perfect
place to learn more
about every kind of
history in Midway Village
has an exhibit.
on black history.
Lonna's here to talk
about it this morning.
Hi Lonna.
- Hi.
- Love hanging out with you,
love learning with you
or learning from you.
Midway Village, are you
guys are open again?
- We are open.
It's going well as
the weather warms up,
more people which is wonderful
but I know we're going to
talk about the Green Book.
- Yes, we want to
talk about Green Book.
which is a great one to visit
during Black History Month.
- It is.
The Green Book
actually was a title
of a major motion picture,
about African Americans who
would be traveling between 1930s
and really the civil rights
movement in the 1960s.
They would have a Green Book
literally as a reference
as to where they could stay
when they were traveling
throughout the United States.
some of those Green Books
and also the story
behind what that meant
for the African
American experience.
I was researching this
a little bit today
before we were going
to sit down and talk.
And this is something that
like before that movie came out
It might be 2019
- [Lonna] Yeah.
but before that movie came out
this was something that maybe
you learned a little bit about
but not huge like in history
class or anything like that.
- Exactly, and thank
because part of what we do
at Midway Village Museum
is to try to tell those stories
that people might not
really know about.
And I'm really glad
that we're focusing in,
but more importantly how
it affected Rockford.
- And so okay, great.
Leading into a next
question there Lonna.
How did it affect Rockford?
come to the museum
and they go to see the exhibit
they can open up the artifacts.
It's all hands-on
in that respect.
But they're listed at the places
that the African-American
population could stay at,
in Rockford.
So it definitely was something
How big is this book?
- Well, they're
more like pamphlets
- [Interviewer] Okay
- [Lonna] For traveling
of course it would
go in the luggage
or whatever,
- [Interviewer] So
each region or city
would have a different one?
- [Interviewer] Oh, okay.
- [Lonna] The person
who wrote it, yeah.
it's like 15,000 of these
books existed at the time.
- [Lonna] Yes, and another
real interesting point is that
this wasn't just for
like a year or two.
- [Interviewer] Sure.
30s all the way up
until the civil rights
movement in the 60s.
So this was something
as a reference
for a very long time,
30 some years.
So I think that's an important
point when we're talking
about the history
behind the Green Book.
Just how long it was
influencing the lives of people.
- Not only how long but how
not so long ago this was.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Right?
- Very good point too.
- I mean, even the 1930s
less than a hundred years
from now is when this started
and it was on for decades.
- Yes
- So what else do you
have in the exhibit?
Is there a little...I
can see some photos.
And is there important
facts about certain-
- So the exhibit is
located in our many faces,
one community gallery
- [Interviewer] Okay.
and then like I was mentioning
there are exhibit pieces
that tell the story that people
can read on exhibit panels.
What the story is
about the Green Book.
- That's cool.
I really love that.
Because some people would
probably saw the movie
but never really
looked up like how much
of the movie was
truthful or true to fact.
Do you know anything about that?
How close was it?
- [Interviewer] Sure.
- But when I've heard
people review it
and when I've read
reviews about it,
I have heard good reviews.
And then some people have-
- [Interviewer] Sure.
- Not so good reviews
so a little bit mixed.
- You can't please
- But I know it won
a bunch of awards.
- Yes it did.
Oh yeah, it was a
big blockbuster hit.
And I think you were right.
- I think so. (chuckles)
So this is in our money faces,
one community gallery
and we are open for
self guided tours
and we opened in January.
warms up,
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
we see more people
and we just want to make
sure that people know
that they can come on out
to the museum and see
our different exhibits
- So before we go.
for Women's History
coming up for March, right?
- Yes. We have several exhibits
related to women's history.
Our largest is the
Rockford Peaches of course.
We'll have three lectures
and people can...
we're doing hybrid programming
where people can watch it
over zoom or they can come
to the lecture as an
in-person experience too.
- I love that so much.
I feel like,
of course that silver
lining pandemic is the fact
that we can go to our houses
and go to our living rooms
and be a part of museums too.
(both chuckles)
I mean, we want to
come see you too.
But we can (indistinct)
- And you know what?
There is a silver
lining in that.
And I've heard other
Like Oh, I can't come in person
because of it's too
far away or whatever
but I certainly
can go over zoom.
So I think you've right on.
When you say
Can't be mad about
a silver lining
and your outdoor
village is opening when?
- That's going to
open on April 15th.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
So that'll be a Thursday.
So come on out,
kick off the new season.
It's our 47th year.
And we're really
happy to be obviously
opening those gates
a little bit earlier.
In fact, usually it
but we thought we'd get into
the swing of things
- [Interviewer] Do it.
- Right, we'll go for it.
- May be that
will make sure we don't
have any snow then Lonna.
(both laughs)
- Hope so.
for joining us this morning.
Of course you can read more
and book your spot
to come to the museum
@midwayvillage.com.
Thanks Lonna.
Coming up next on
Good Day Stateline.
to Casey Jones.
And later Rhonda Greer Robinson
president of the
Rockford chapter
of the NAACP is
joining us via Skype.
We'll be right back.