P.S. Jones Museum Receives Nutrien Grant

Published 3:51 pm Friday, April 1, 2022

By KAREN THIEL

For the Washington Daily News

Organizers and supporters of the effort to bring history to life are celebrating this week with the announcement that a $25,000 grant has been approved by Nutrien and awarded to the P.S. Jones African American Education Museum.

“We knew this day would come,” said museum curator Alice Sadler, “but not that the community would embrace and fund it so quickly. Because the people and businesses of Washington and Beaufort County want this museum, we have met our March 31st incremental deadline ahead of schedule.”

Sadler said those funds will enable the museum’s planning committee members to resume planning meetings with the staff of Design Dimensions of Zebulon, which was chosen for the challenge in part because their staff created the concept for the North Carolina Estuarium at Mac Hodges Memorial Park.

The next step in the museum committee’s process includes collaborative meetings to finalize a model of the vision that Design Dimensions staff members have presented to museum committee members, Board of Education liaison Eltha Booth, and Washington residents in several public meetings.

Once those are done and decisions made, a model will be made of the space where the museum is currently located, including new display units and media-related spaces that will showcase artifacts and documents from the days of segregation, when the only high school that African American high school students could attend was located on the P.S. Jones property.

Sadler estimated that the design of all those display areas should take less than a month, at which point a three-to-four-foot scale model of the reimagined space will be created and displayed during open hours at the museum, which is located at 847 North Pierce Street.

While all that is happening, Sadler said phase three of the fundraising will get into gear, starting with the group’s second annual “Rib Feast”, scheduled for May 7 at P.S. Jones Park. A $25 ticket donation will give participants a half rack of ribs, potatoes, vegetables, and a beverage. Contact information for tickets, which are already on sale, can be found online or purchased at the museum on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. until the May 1st deadline. Also planned for the museum space is an art exhibit featuring creations related to African American history, which were recently made by members of the Boys and Girls Club. That event will be open to the public during regular museum hours through the end of April.