Joy Ford Austin

"One is the sheer awe I felt at being in the same room with intellectuals, civil rights leaders and community organizers wrestling with big questions from the purpose of these museums to how the culture would be presented and how museums could be changed to accommodate what they thought might be most useful. Secondly"

"I was offered this job when I was just 29 years old and only a naturalized American citizen of 3 years. Dr. Bettye Thomas, then Head of the Bethune Museum and Archives, recruited me. I have to say that my husband was a sociologist and scholar of African American History and Culture and I had already learnt a keen appreciation of African American Culture from him."

"And I was a reader, I knew even then that I had been given a magnificent opportunity to help create something important that would stand the test of time. So I got to work creating a service organization for black museum professionals and professionals in other museums but in those days the priority was on black museums. That meant developing publications and communication strategies, planning workshops and annual meetings; engaging the field in strategic planning; providing advice and capacity building and serving the Board; and all the tasks that we do as EDs. And fundraising!!!!"

"I am happy to see that many of the core institutions have evolved into extraordinary institutions: DuSable, Wright Museum in Detroit and Anacostia; the African Meeting House in Boston; the college museums like Hampton and Howard; the Great Plains Black History Museum and the Black American West Museum and so many others. Their resiliency amazes me!"