The African-American Museum Of Bucks County received a boost recently to aid with the creation of a permanent museum.
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The nonprofit Samuel Staten Sr. Charitable Trust handed over a $10,000 donation last week to the African-American Museum Of Bucks County during a ceremony at the Bucks County Visitor Center in Bensalem Township.
The African-American Museum Of Bucks County is in the process of planning to create a museum at the former Boone Farm on Newtown-Langhorne Road by the intersection with Bridgetown Pike in Middletown Township.
Samuel Staten Jr., the business manager for LIUNA Local Union #332, secretary treasurer of Laborers’ District Council of the Metropolitan Area of Philadelphia and Vicinity, and international vice president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, and Samuel Staten Sr. Charitable Trust’s Board of Trustees presented the $10,000 check to Linda Salley, the president and executive director of the African-American Museum Of Bucks County, along with the African-American Museum Of Bucks County Board of Directors.
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Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Bucks County Project and Diversity Officer Bernard Griggs Jr. were also in attendance for the presentation.
“It is so important that the treasured artifacts, educational programs, and special exhibits that are currently a mobile museum have a permanent home and a wider audience,” said Staten Jr. “The new home of the African American Museum of Bucks County will help spread the knowledge of the rich legacy of the African American experience to a much wider audience.”
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“We are grateful to the Samuel Staten, Sr. Charitable Trust for their support,” said Salley. “After the generously gifted lease from the Bucks County Commissioners of the Boone Farm, we will need to make the newly renovated building into a museum. These funds will help us do just that.”
In 2020, the Bucks County Commissioners agreed to allow the African-American Museum of Bucks County to rent the empty Boone Farm for $1 per year until 2030.
Renovations for the farm property that back up to Core Creek Park are planned.
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While Bucks County played an important role in the abolition movement and harboring escaping slaves, it also has a history of slavery, according to the 1905 book The History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The history book notes that there were Black and Native American slaves. The first slaves were brought to Bucks County by settlers from Holland as soon as 1636 and later by the English and Dutch. At times, even Quakers had slaves who worked on their farms.
Credit: Google Maps
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