Did an interesting tour today at the Heinz History Center.
A bus from James Madison University in Virginia arrived with a group of 40 high school age kids. The purpose was to get kids who might not be considering college to change their minds about pursuing a higher education. They were in Cleveland yesterday and Pittsburgh today - they were headed for Kennywood after they left the HHC - before heading back to Virginia tomorrow.
All of the kids were African-American, so that was the emphasis of the tour (Pittsburgh Courier, jazz in the Hill District, Negro Leagues etc). When looking over some of the baseball stuff in the sports museum, one of the kids asked me if we had any stuff from Andrew McCutchen. When another kid asked who that was, the first kid replied "that good dude from the Pirates with the dreads."
I also found it interesting that these kids from Virginia knew more about Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception than I find many similar aged kids from Pittsburgh know. More than a few of them were also familiar with Roberto Clemente and his story. (On the other hand, very few of them knew the story of Jesse Owens. Can't win 'em all, I suppose.)
I really enjoy doing a tour with people who are NOT from Pittsburgh. You get a whole different perspective. And of course, a middle aged white guy like me really got a different perspective from this group of kids today. It was good experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment