International African American Museum

TheInternational African American Museum (IAAM) will officially open on June 27th in Charleston, South Carolina. The Museum honors the untold stories of the African American journey from Charleston at the historically sacred site of Gadsden’s Wharf, one of the nation’s most prolific former slave trading ports, and beyond. You will be able to explore cultures and knowledge systems retained and adapted by Africans in the Americas and the diverse journeys and achievements of these individuals and their descendants in South Carolina, the United States, and throughout the African Diaspora.

The Museum includes nine core exhibition galleries, a special exhibition gallery, as well as a “floating” gallery that weaves contemporary art throughout the museum. There are more than 700 artifacts dating from 17th century to contemporary objects, alongside 1,000 image and media collection pieces. The museum also houses the Center for Family History, a world-class genealogy and ancestry resource center, which will host genealogy classes and workshops.

IAAM is a champion of authentic, empathetic storytelling of American history and is one of the nation’s newest platforms for the disruption of institutionalized racism as it evolves today. Ahead of its official opening, the Museum offers Wikitree’s US Black Heritage Program and Living Legacies Series including Moving Star Hall, African American Longshoremen and Sol Legare Island and Mosquito Beach. Contact IAAM for more information: iaamuseum.org; call 843-872-5352.

Now you too can not only explore myevent.com, but get a 25% discount if you decide to use it for your reunion registrations, promotion, donations, contributions and more. Read Katherine Patrick’s article for one reunion’s use of the program. Then, use the seven-day free trial for your reunion!

Help yourself to reunion giveaways!

Each month, three new giveaways are added to our website for you to enter. Winners are announced in mid-month newsletters arriving about the 15th of each month. Giveaways are intended as prizes to give at your reunion or as a reward for you, the reunion planner, for all your hard work! Visit the giveaway page on the website regularly and enter monthly. You might be surprised!

Examples: Zap the Grandma Gap and MyHeritage DNA Kit

More giveaways …

We offer three more giveaways to help as you plan and stage your reunion. A quick fact sheet called Hot reunion tips for reunion success is a chronological list of ideas and facts to keep in mind as you are planning your reunion. It is also helpful to give to new planners or committee members for them to follow in the time leading up to your reunion and for Reunion Day.

We’ve discovered that there’s nothing reunion planners like more than Reunion freebies! So we’ve compiled a long list of items and services you can access without cost to help plan and stage your reunion. We urge you to add to the list if/when you find something that can be of use to other reunion planners!

Finally, we offer last minute games that include several icebreakers and games you can assemble fairly easily if you find you don’t have enough to activities to engage your members.

All of these are free for the asking. Simply email editor@reunionsmag.com and specify which giveaway you would like.