Crafting Legacy: The Sankofa African-American 3D Museum – Interview with Lawrence Walker EP

Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of CWEE's Creators at Value. I'm your host Francis and today we're diving into the powerful world of cultural preservation and historical education with someone truly inspiring. I'm beyond thrilled to introduce today's guests Lawrence Walker, the visionary president CEO of the Sankofa African American 3D Museum and the driving force behind both the Lawrence E. Walker Foundation and the purehistory.org. Lawrence, welcome to the show and we are so excited to have you with us today. Thank you very much for inviting me and looking forward for a great, great, great, great conversation. Lawrence is an absolute trailblazer in the world of cultural preservation and historical education. As the leader of the Sankofa African American 3D Museum, Lawrence has played an instrumental role in elevating African American history and culture, providing an immersive experience for all those who visit. And in addition to his work with the museum, Lawrence is also the president of the Lawrence Walker Foundation. It is an organization dedicated to supporting the preservation of African American heritage. She also leads purehistory.org, that is purehistory.org. It is a platform that broadens the reach of historical education. Let's start with the foundation of your work. You've built such an impressive legacy. So my first question would be, what inspired you to create the Sankofa African American 3D Museum? And walk us through, how did your background shape the direction of this mission? Well, I have to, well, it's an important question that you ask and a powerful question. When I went to, after high school, I went to art school. I used to paint and draw. I perfected, I can take your face and just copy it and paint it. And I was good as an artist and painting. I said, one day I'm going to go back to it. But I started painting and drawing and after high school, I went to an art institute. Stayed there one year and I felt I needed more. I needed more. And I saw this flyer that said, go to college, you know, expand your education, learn. And I knew, well, if I'm going to expand into my art field at that time, let me go to college. So I applied at the time, now you're going to see how old I am, back in the 70s. I went to college at Newark State College in Newark, New Jersey in 72. I graduated in 76. The school changed the name to Keene University. Now it's Keene University after the governor of Keene at that time. So when I graduated, I switched careers in my sophomore year. I went from art to TV production because I happened to see these kids on campus walking around back in the old days, back in the 70s. Now you're really seeing how old I am. They used to have, call it, cameras with port-a-pacs on the side. We called them old dinosaur cameras. And I saw these kids walking around the campus. I said, what is that you have on your shoulder? They said, wow, we have a TV club on campus. You want to come and join our TV club in the evening? I'm like, sure. So later that evening, I went and the next day I changed my major from art to television production. Stay tuned for the next episode.