TAMPA, Fla. — Reflection and celebrations were felt across the Tampa Bay area as thousands of people celebrated Juneteenth.
A revamped Black History Matters mural was unveiled Monday morning in front of the Woodson African American Museum of Florida.
The museum's executive director, Terri Lipsey Scott, was overjoyed to celebrate African American history and one another.
"We are humbled and grateful to celebrate freedom as it should be," Lipsey Scott said.
At a time when books are being pulled off the shelves across the state and African American studies are being challenged, Lipsey Scott said continuing African American history and culture is imperative.
"It is the mission of the Woodson African American Museum to preserve, present and fully celebrate and educate our black history," Lipsey Scott said.
Sharing pieces of African American history will continue in Hillsborough County.
City leaders unveiled the soon-to-be African American Arts and Cultural Center.
The museum is the heart and push of Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers.
"The African Americans, we will be able to tell our story here in Hillsborough County. How do we overcome and today, we are making strides," Myers said.
The 50,000-square-foot center has a price tag of $30 million. The project will be constructed as part of the master plan to replace all existing facilities on the six-acre campus of the West Tampa Community Resource Center.
The center will include a range of public experience spaces, meeting spaces, galleries, labs, studios, educational classrooms, a black-box theater, a retail café, administrative offices, special exterior spaces, and parking.
Myers said the center is the staple the city needs and stressed the importance of making its home in West Tampa.
"West Tampa is not forgotten. We want to invest from the Riverwalk all the way up here to the African American Arts and Cultural Center so that the community will have a place to come. Our youth will have a place to come. Get involved with the arts and celebrate," Myers said.
The groundbreaking for the Tampa Bay African American Arts and Cultural Center is tentatively planned for 2024 and the opening/ribbon cutting is tentatively planned for 2026.
