Grantee Partner Spotlight: The African American Museum at the England Manor
2021 ribbon cutting ceremony during the Museum's opening
Features
By Mark Hallett, Director of Grants Programs
Read Time 7 minutes
February 18, 2025
The England Manor is a Waukegan-based historical home that houses the African American Museum founded by Sylvia England.
The mission of the African American Museum at the England Manor is to illuminate African American stories from Africa to the present day. The Museum showcases exhibits and artifacts chronicling the African American experience, with a particular focus on Sylvia’s family history. With exhibits covering topics such as Africa, the Underground Railroad, 40 Acres and a Mule, the Great Migration, and Contemporary Black Americans, the museum strives to expand upon the limited African American history taught in schools.
In August 2024, the Museum received an Illinois Humanities grant to support the organization's general operating budget. Learn more about the Museum, its founder, and their work in this interview.
A Q&A with Sylvia England
Founder and Executive Director of the African American Museum at the England Manor
As the founder of the African American Museum at the England Manor, what would you say people should know about it? What is the museum’s origin story?
We started in 2018. We’re the only African American Museum in Lake County focusing on African American history, culture, and the arts. This is a historic house, and when I bought it, I didn’t know much about it. The ceilings were falling down, but I was drawn to the beautiful staircase. Later, I learned the house was built in 1859 when slavery still existed. At that time, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowed escaped slaves to be returned to captivity even if they made it to Illinois.
One day, I went downstairs, moved a wall, and discovered two large rooms. Why were they hidden? It turned out that when this house was built, it included a safe station. While I can’t confirm the owner was an abolitionist, he was certainly anti-slavery. Initially, we named the museum the Underground Railroad Museum.
Interestingly, the museum’s creation stemmed from a leadership program I participated in. First, we explored our past, then how others perceived us, and finally, what tangible projects we wanted to bring into the future. While my peers developed social service projects, my passion was to create a museum.
As part of the program, I engaged with the community by inviting women to discuss the Museum’s concept. The key question wasn’t why we should open an African American Museum but rather, “What happens if we don’t?” We realized many stories remain unwritten or paraphrased. I knew nothing about running a museum at the time. Each new challenge required consulting professionals to learn how to address it.
Sylvia England presenting at Woodland Academy.
The England Manor
Basement of the England Manor
You mentioned that behind the scenes, there are many skill sets that are needed to operate a museum. What are some of them?
Where do I begin? Marketing is critical—if people know about the Museum, they’ll come. Being a people person is also essential. You need to interact and connect with others because they won’t visit if they don’t know it exists.
When it comes to staffing, there are many roles. Exhibits require researchers, designers, and exhibitors. Even practical details, like knowing how to install displays on fragile plaster walls, matter. For example, you need to understand building materials, which Velcro strips hold heavy items, and how to maintain display cases.
Then, there are archival responsibilities. Tracking museum artifacts is crucial, so you need an archivist. Maintaining the physical space is another challenge, from preserving wooden floors to mowing the lawn. Volunteer management is also a significant aspect, as many people want to help.
The museum has exhibits on Africa, the Underground Railroad, 40 acres and a mule, the Great Migration, Contemporary Black America, and more. What do you find most gratifying about running the museum?
One of the most rewarding experiences is being invited back by schools during African American History Month. We take a mobile museum and set up a display. As a teacher at heart, I love making a difference through education.
Another highlight is our ancestry program, which began in September 2024. It’s an eight-week course where participants explore their genealogy with help from the Zion Genealogical Society.
A digital trainer teaches them to use ancestry tools, find official records, and interpret headstones. At the program’s end, each participant receives a computer to continue their research and presents their findings in an exhibit.
Visit to North School on February 7, 2025
Tell us about your plans for 2025. Is there anything else exciting in the works?
Personally, I love traveling. Our touring museum allows us to visit places like Lake Forest, where we’ll view the premiere of the movie The Negro Artist, and Chicago, where we explore sites connected to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s visits. Recently, we visited Summit, Illinois, where a statue of Mammie Till stands, and Marquette Park, where Dr. King faced violent resistance. These trips provide firsthand learning experiences.
We also host community activities, like connecting museum visits with African American cultural elements—whether food, crafts, or drumming. In 2023, we started a community garden promoting healthy eating. Visitors were able to take free produce and spark meaningful conversations about food and community.
Sylvia England's Suggested Readings
- Pulling Off the Sheets by Darrel Dexter and John A. Beadles
Pulling off the Sheets: The Second Ku Klux Klan in Deep Southern Illinois tells the previously obscured history of the Second Ku Klux Klan which formed in deep southern Illinois in the early 1920s. Through meticulous research into both public and private records, Darrel Dexter and John A. Beadles recount the Klan’s mythical origins, reemergence, and swift disappearance. This important historical account sets out to expose the lasting impact of the Klan on race relations today.
- Black Settlements in Southern Illinois by Kimberly France
Never before has there been a published record that identifies the Black settlements in each of the lower sixteen counties of Southern Illinois. Few are aware of this legacy, which dates back to the early founding of the Illinois territory, but these communities are an essential part of the region's heritage. Author Kimberly France identifies these historic institutions by the pillars that anchored them. She describes how Black settlement began, how it ended, and the untold history that lies between.
- PowerNomics by Dr. Claud Anderson
BEST SELLER LIST: Detroit Free Press and Essence Magazine
PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America is a five-year plan to make Black America a prosperous and empowered race that is self-sufficient and competitive as a group by the year 2005. In this book, Dr. Anderson obliterates the myths and illusions of black progress and brings together data and information from many different sources to construct a framework for solutions to the dilemma of Black America.
About the African American Museum at the England Manor
The England Manor is a Waukegan-based historical home that houses the African American Museum founded by Sylvia England. England Manor, located at 503 North Genesee Street, was built in 1859 by Robert C. Earle. Earle purchased the plot of land for $100 from a man named Robert Douglas in what was once called Little Fort (now the city of Waukegan). The Manor, thought to be part of the Underground Railroad, has been meticulously maintained and restored to hit its former grandeur by Sylvia England, who has kept the historical elements that have endured.
The mission of the African American Museum at the England Manor (AAMatEM) is to illuminate African American stories from Africa to the present day. The Museum showcases exhibits and artifacts chronicling the African American experience, with a particular focus on Sylvia’s family history. With exhibits covering topics such as Africa, the Underground Railroad, 40 Acres and a Mule, the Great Migration, and Contemporary Black Americans, the museum strives to expand upon the limited African American history taught in schools.
The AAMatEM aims to allow individuals who have been systematically stifled to have a voice and tell their stories. We encourage all who visit to sit down and reflect on their own experience and their family.
By prioritizing education, the museum hopes to allow young people to expand upon the limited black history they are typically told to understand better the depth of their roots that have embedded themselves into this country’s deepest recesses.
Get involved and follow @AAMatEM: Website | Facebook
About the Grantee Partner Spotlight Series
Illinois Humanities highlights the work of our Grants partners through our monthly Grantee Partner Spotlight. It shines a light on our grantee partners' work and allows readers to get to know them better through a Q&A with members of the organization. Read more by browsing the "Grantee Partner Spotlight" series here.
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