Open Daily, Except Tuesdays  

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

330 E. College Ave., Appleton, WI

920.735.9370

Exhibit Committee
Sarah Golden, Project Intern
Dr. Bola Delano-Oriaran
Erin Dix
Ron Dunlap
Kathy Flores
Nick Hoffman
David Mueller
Antoinette Powell
Dr. Sabrina W. Robins


If you are interested in hosting ​A Stone of Hope ​at your organization, please contact Chief Curator Dustin Mack at dustin@myhistorymuseum.org


The exhibit is loaned to area schools and organizations for free.

Created in Partnership with:

Thanks to our exhibit sponsors:

For Teachers

Download activities for the classroom and during your visit to see the exhibit at the Museum.

Jewelers Mutual Charitable Giving Fund 
​​​A Stone of Hope: Black Experiences in the Fox Cities is an exhibit about local Black history from the 1700s to the present.

​The exhibit traveled the Fox Cities for two years to various community organizations and schools, and sometimes still travels. When it is not traveling, it may be on display in the Museum's Siekman Room; however we cannot guarantee its availability at the Museum. We suggest calling ahead to check if it will be on display when you visit the Museum.

Before 1900, the Fox Cities were home to a growing Black population of Civil War veterans, small business owners and community leaders. Losing hope, most Blacks left the area by 1920 due to increasing harassment from police, racial exclusion at hotels, racial covenants barring home ownership and minstrelsy advertising and entertainment. 

The exhibit also addresses Appleton’s past sundown custom and racial exclusion from 1915 to 1961, and how the Fox Cities emerged from this mountain of despair during the Civil Rights Era. 

To share this history, the exhibit includes twelve floor banners, each richly illustrated with photographs of individuals, businesses and events described in the narrative. A kiosk with oral history videos of current Black residents helps demonstrate how Appleton has moved forward, but also that more work toward equality is needed.

​How will you keep hope for equality 
​alive in the Fox Cities?