The Press Gallery

The Acacia Collection in Country Home Magazine! (continued)

As a young museum curator and later as director of the Maryland Commission on African-American History, he sought to explore beyond those museums, to delve into one of history's darkest corners. The search led eventually to Savannah, once the largest port of entry for slaves, now the most fertile point of access for remnants of their lives.

Unlike Europeans, who brought their material culture in the holds of ships, African arrivals carried only memories and shackles. Their culture was held not in steamer trunks but in their hearts and minds and in the skills of their hands.

The most telling antiques, and those with the most widely shared heritage, show how people managed to rise above their meager means. Greene calls it "a culture of making do, a culture of survival and self-reliance." That philosophy led to the humble gifts at the heart of African-American folk art. This collection, for example, includes a coverlet sewn from feed sacks and fabric scraps. An attached note quotes the Georgia quilter's sentiment for her children: I might not be able to give them much, but I swore they wouldn't be cold." Pieces also include doll furniture tacked together by a dad in the 1930s or '40s; a scrap-wood table given as a wedding gift in the 1920s; and a crock of hooch, lettered "Johnny's jug, February 2, 1938, love always from his mother."

Filling shelves and cabinets, walls and floors, the collection spills out from two rooms in a private home. Pieces often get loaned to museums, and the principals hope eventually to place the collection in a permanent museum exhibit.

The Acacia Collection's message of simple faith is underscored by an offering plate carefully assembled from Popsicle sticks. Nearby, a primitive still life hangs unframed on one wall. Some determined artist rendered the work in leftover house paint on the metal lid of a bucket.