Dant to present Feb. 19 program on African American history connections of Hannibal and Quincy

QUINCY — Faye Dant will give a presentation at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, at the History Museum on the Square, 332 Maine, that will focus on African American history connections of Hannibal, Mo., and Quincy.

The program will offer the shared history of the two communities and will feature names, places and events exhibiting a common thread. In a press release, Dant said, “I will lift up the belief that Quincy has a story to tell that goes beyond Dr. Eells and the Underground Railroad.”

Dant, a fifth-generation African American Hannibalian and descendent of Missouri slaves, is the executive director of Hannibal’s black history museum, Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center. She grew up in Douglasville and attended the segregated Douglass School, Hannibal High School and Hannibal-LaGrange College.

She founded Jim’s Journey in 2013 as phase two of the Hannibal African American Life and History Project established in 2011 as northeast Missouri’s first African American history museum. Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center is approaching its 10th anniversary. Her inspiration was her own life experiences in the era of segregation, integration, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement.

With degrees from Oakland University and the University of Michigan, Dant has worked more than 30 years in human resources. She sits on the board of the Missouri Archives and Museums Association and is a former member of the Missouri Humanities Council, the Marion County Historical Society and the grants panel for the Missouri Folk Arts Council.

The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County is the host of the event, which is sponsored by O’Donnell Cookson Life Celebration Home in Quincy.

The program is open to the public free of charge.