Overall , Pittman said that he felt blessed to take up the challenge of keeping the museum marching on , watering the crops grown from the seed spread by Hadley years ago .
“ I ’ m blessed to be here , I ’ m blessed to take on this challenge , I ’ m excited for the challenge and making sure that Hadley ’ s legacy always has a huge part to play in this organization ,” he said . “ It ’ s really keen to me to make sure that , whether it ’ s a year from now or its 10 years from now or its 20 years from now , people will be able to come to Jack Hadley Yards , know who Jack Hadley is , and will be able to know just the amount of love and care and support that he put into this organization , that his family put into this organization , and that all of those supporters that Mr . Hadley was able to put into this organization as well .”
Having transition to director emeritus , Hadley said that he was proud of Pittman ’ s dedication and careful handling of the future of the museum , as well as the amazing staff and board the museum was blessed with , and that his worries about how it would fair once he had passed had faded .
“ I watched him over the months , over the years , and now that , when I sit back in my office and hear him talk about my personal history to people stopping in that southern gallery right there , I know that we picked the right man ,” he said . “ I don ’ t worry about it no more . I used to worry about what ’ s going to happen to the museum after I ’ m gone , but I don ’ t worry about it no more .”
Starting from a school exhibit in Germany to applying for grants to take each step towards the next evolution of displaying black history , Hadley said that things had come a long way since his first exhibit and he was content to know that the museum had truly grown into a success over the years .
“ It ’ s been a long journey , it ’ s been a long journey . We ’ ve been very successful , we ’ ve been very successful with the museum over the years ,” he said . “ We have been , I could not have donut by myself . It has been the community , the board members , my volunteers , my museum supporters , my family , my wife , we ’ ve been married for 65 years , my three children , it ’ s just been a very good support from the white and black community .”
The gallery at the Jack Hadley Black
History Museum
Rendering of the Jack Hadley Yards
The Buffalo Soldiers display
14 February | March 2023 Thomasville Scene