WHERE: 819 W. Main St., Louisville

WHEN: Slated to open February 2020

MORE INFORMATION: roots-101.org

One of the first things you see is a promotional pamphlet straight out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in bold, block print: "Don't be half a man, join the Klan."

Posters of 20th-century blackface performers and minstrel shows line the walls.

In another corner, an ancient tribal African staff with a strong fist that resembles the modern "Black Power" symbol.

These items are a few in Louisville native Lamont Collins' immense collection of African American artsoon to be on display at Roots 101 African-American Museum at 819 W. Main St., aptly sandwiched on Museum Row near the Frazier History Museum, the Louisville Slugger Museum and the SAR Genealogical Library.

The artifacts represent Collins' legacy and what he believes to be his purpose in life — to create a "healing place" for the African American struggle. Collins' legacy manifests in four floors that ascend through the African American experience, starting in the basement of the old building — which was most recently home to a tech company.

For more than four decades, Collins has been collecting artifacts depicting all facets of the African American experience, from empowering symbols to derogatory images. He wants to tell the full story of the deep roots of African American culture.

The museum, which he hopes will open before Black History Month in February 2020, will extend far past slavery. Interspersed exhibits throughout the new museum will highlight vignettes of the African diaspora and influence in every pocket of American culture.

Because, as Collins' likes to say, it's time to spread the truth of African American history: that African Americans are not descendants of slaves.

“I tell young people: We are descendants of African kings and queens who were once enslaved. If we can instill that mindset change, then this museum will do what it needs to do," Collins said.

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'This museum was ordained to be here'

Roots 101 — named like an introductory college course — will begin in the basement of the historic building. On a tour through the mostly empty structure, Collins pointed to the long, narrow cement basement walls where a slave ship exhibit will be built — the first step in the African journey to this continent. In the basement's back section there are plans for an Underground Railroad exhibit.

Facing the Ohio River, the exhibit will symbolize the journey many slaves took to cross into freedom in Indiana, Collins said.

"It's like this museum was ordained to be here."

On the second floor, above what will be a lobby and gift shop, Collins pointed to a small room that will be converted into a slave cabin holding a large family.

The second and third floor will also be home to artifacts from Collins' collections, virtual exhibits and classrooms.

"We want the exhibits to come to life, to create an emotional connection so that elementary-age students who come through here are able to pick up a slave chain and actually feel the weight of it while watching a video about what it means," Collins said.

In this section of the soon-to-be museum, visitors will find 19th and 20th-century advertising that used African Americans as symbols of quality food, like Aunt Jemima.

There will be Harper's Weekly magazines and journals from W.E.B. Du Bois on display next to images of slaves picking cotton, black Union soldiers and Jackie Robinson posters.

Local vignettes include a bust of Lyman T. Johnson, who fought to open the University of Kentucky to African American students in 1949, and pamphlets from the Louisville Black Teachers Association before the city's desegregation.

The fourth floor will host an exhibit on slavery and the African American influence on the bourbon industry, telling the story of Uncle Nearest, a black master distiller, who taught techniques to Jack Daniel, founder of the Jack Daniel Tennessee whiskey distillery, in the late 1800s.

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Maybe one day, Roots 101 African American Museum will be the missing cog in Kentucky's famous bourbon trail, said Guy Tedesco, a Louisville artist and sculptor who is working with Collins to build a vision for the museum.

This isn't the first stride being made locally in recognizing the role of African Americans in the bourbon industry. Researchers and groups such as the Kentucky Black Bourbon Guild are combing through documents and attempting to learn more about slaves who worked in distilleries across Kentucky.

At Roots, some of the museum's artifacts will be on loan from a collector in California named Oran Z. Belgrave, who owned the Pan-African Black Facts & Wax Museum in Los Angeles, before it was closed in 2012. Collins heard about Oran Z on an NPR podcast, which said the museum "offered a dizzying kaleidoscope of black Americana, from wax figures to historical artifacts to racist, Jim Crow-era memorabilia."

After being pushed out of LA, Oran Z took nine carloads of history and put them in railroad cars behind his house in the Mojave Desert. He now has stage 4 cancer, so when Collins called to ask to loan his artifacts for Roots 101, Oran Z said the connection was predestined.

That collection includes slave memorabilia, African American music and wax figures of predominant people such as George Washington Carver and President Barack Obama.

And then there are the derogatory images.

Oran Z told NPR he chose to preserve the horrific artifacts to ensure they are seen, as a way of understanding how black people have been dehumanized, objectified and belittled throughout history.

Collins has also been collecting derogatory images since he was 16 years old, for the same reason. Back in those days, the artifacts were inexpensive collectibles. African American history wasn't valued, Collins said, but it's important to preserve all parts of history.

Holding a Ku Klux Klan poster with the words "Death to traitors, communists, black rioters and race mixers," Collins said, "Now, how much of that do we still hear today? It never went away."

One black president doesn’t erase slavery, he said.

And now more than ever it's important to embrace African American history, even when it's ugly, he said.

"My vision at Roots 101 is for people to learn to value their history, so we’re not leaving junk but heirlooms behind for our children," Collins said.

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'It's a healing place. It's the truth'

Collins grew up in tumultuous times in Louisville's history. Before playing football at the University of Louisville from 1978 to 1981, Collins witnessed riots in the Newburg neighborhood in 1968 following Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. He was a student at Fern Creek High School when busing started, and his family was one of the first African American families to move to the suburban neighborhood in Bashford Manor.

"When black parents moved you to the suburbs, it wasn’t like we had training on what to do or how to act — it was like being dropped behind enemy lines," Collins said. "The only way we know how to survive was based on how strong our parents were and what they instilled in us."

As a child, when Collins saw blackface on TV shows like "Tarzan," he decided "either I could accept those images or think I was greater than those images."

"I knew I was greater than that because my parents and grandparents were greater than that," Collins said. "The derogatory images was who society said we were, but my parents told me I wasn’t, so I could take pride in it."

After working in construction and becoming an ordained minister, Collins finally has a place for his collection, right on Louisville's Museum Row.

"This is not a rental space for Black History Month, this is for every month," he said. "We're building roots deep into the foundation of Main Street."

Collins, who also owns a construction general contracting company called Collins Group EMBZ, is leasing the building from C & P Real Estate. Roots 101, a nonprofit, has thus far been funded by Collins, through private donations and a GoFundMe page.

"If 700,000 people visit this block every year, it’s going to be hard for 700,000 people to walk past this place and not come inside, to learn about people like Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson."

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Roots 101 doesn’t end with the intense, graphic imagery of slavery: It will bring visitors through that journey to the beauty and power in African American culture in areas such as music, sports, food, science and art.

"This place kills the whole premise of white supremacy," Collins said. "Because white supremacists say that Africans, Mexicans, Jews, etc. didn’t contribute to America. When we tell the history here, it shows our contribution and blows the myth away of white supremacy.

"That’s why it’s a healing place, it’s the truth."

For Tedesco, the artist helping Collins' vision come to life, it is "intimidating" to encapsulate such a vast story into just four floors.

"We could take up the entire block to tell this story, the entire city," he said.

For Collins, the final chapter — the fourth floor of the museum — is not yet written.

"Our history here has only been 400 years, so the future is still ripe for us," he said. "We just have to keep a mindset that there is a redemptive future."

Ultimately, he hopesRoots 101 will not just be for the tourists who populate Main Street; Collins is developing a mentor and scholarship program called "Kings and Queens" for black youth in Louisville, and the museum's top floor and rooftop overlooking the Ohio River will eventually host community and private events.

Collins said when the museum opens, ticket prices will be around $7. The museum will be open weekdays and Saturdays tentatively from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The nonprofit is in the fundraising stages and Collins is looking to hire a board of directors. The nonprofit will host a "Friendraiser" on Sept. 18. Visit the website or contact Lamont Collins at lcollins@roots-101.org for information.

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Reach culture and diversity reporter Savannah Eadens at seadens@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @savannaheadens.

Roots 101 African-American Museum

WHAT: Roots 101 African-American Museum tells the story of the African diaspora and influence in every pocket of American culture.

WHERE: 819 W. Main St., Louisville

WHEN: Slated to open February 2020

MORE INFORMATION: roots-101.org