The African American Museum of Southern Illinois has made its goal to “to identify, preserve and portray outstanding achievements in African American history and culture,” according to the museum’s website.
Co-founders Corene and Milton McDaniel have been married for over 50 years and started the museum over in 1997 while Corene was the president of the local chapter of the NAACP.
“[The NAACP] had an award that people could apply for,” Corene said. “As the president, the committee chose the person, I wanted to read and know more about that person.”
November 10, 2019
Going through the applications for the award, Corene said she realized she didn’t know about some of the accomplishments of the applicants.
“Come to find out, they had done so much stuff that I had no clue about,” Corene said. “We decided that we needed to start letting people know about members of our community that made these outstanding accomplishments.”
Milton said one of his favorite pieces at the museum is an exhibit that tells the story of Aaron Walker, one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American U.S. military pilots.
“My favorite piece here is that hanging up on the wall over there, of the Tuskegee Airmen,” Milton said. “He is a local Carbondale man. His brother I knew quite well. We lived on the same street growing up.”
Walker is the sort of citizen that the founders had in mind when creating the African American History Museum.
“It gives me some pride that someone from the little town of Carbondale, on the same street that I grew up on, that could make a difference in history,” Milton said.
Corene said there is a lot to do at the museum but she and Milton don’t mind doing it.
“We are professional volunteers,” Corene said. “There is always something to do somewhere. We have been very blessed so we do not mind doing it. A lot of the time we do it together so that is still spending some quality time together.”
Milton said an African American historical figure whom he most admires is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“He gave the ultimate price,” Milton said. “He inspired me not only with him giving the ultimate price but he also taught me to never give up. He said ‘We shall not be moved.’”
Milton faced adversity in his career, as an African American locomotive engineer.
“It inspired me so much in my occupation, I was the first African American locomotive engineer to run a train north of the Ohio river,” Milton said. “And everyone tried to turn me back and discourage me from continuing my job, continuing my career. Fortunately, two years ago I retired after 50 years.”
After retiring from a long career on the railroad, Milton said he learned many things. The most important take away he got from his experiences was that everything comes with a price.
“There is a price to pay for everything,” Milton said. “I gave up a lot but I gained a lot. What I learned is that if it’s worth having, it’s worth working for.”
DeSande R is the treasurer of the board of the AAMSI. The museum board, along with Corene and Milton, maintain the museum.
“We all have different duties,” R said. “Milton helps with the volunteers. Corene helps watch over the museum and do hours there. The president has to do a report to send to Carbondale Community Arts on the activity of the last three months.”
DeSande said her duties include the financials and maintaining the website for the museum.
The museum is located in the University Mall and is open from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Staff reporter Juniper Oxford can be reached at joxford@dailyegyptian.com or followed on Twitter at @JuniperOxford.
To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.
Most dolphins have acute eyesight, both in and out of the water, and they can hear frequencies ten times or more above the upper limit of adult human hearing.[31] Though they have a small ear opening on each side of their head, it is believed hearing underwater is also, if not exclusively, done with the lower jaw, which conducts sound to the middle ear via a fat-filled cavity in the lower jaw bone. Hearing is also used for echolocation, which all dolphins have. Dolphin teeth are believed to function as antennae to receive incoming sound and to pinpoint the exact location of an object.[32] Beyond locating an object, echolocation also provides the animal with an idea on the object’s shape and size, though how exactly this works is not yet understood.[33] The Indus Dolphin is effectively blind. This may be because not much light penetrates the waters of the Indus river (due to suspended sediments), making the need for vision unnecessary.
The dolphin’s sense of touch is also well-developed, with free nerve endings densely packed in the skin, especially around the snout, pectoral fins and genital area. However, dolphins lack an olfactory nerve and lobes, and thus are believed to have no sense of smell.[35] They do have a sense of taste and show preferences for certain kinds of fish. Since dolphins spend most of their time below the surface, tasting the water could function like smelling, in that substances in the water can signal the presence of objects that are not in the dolphin’s mouth.
A group of dolphins is called a “school” or a “pod”. Male dolphins are called “bulls”, females “cows” and young dolphins are called “calves”.
