10/29/2026
, October 29th, 1975, the Museum was incorporated as a corporation without share capital under the name of the North American Black Historical Museum?
The following community leaders were the signatories on the incorporation papers:
Melvin Thomas Simpson, Floral Designer, and Henry Murray Smith, Businessman, both of the Town of Amherstburg, in the County of Essex, in the Province of Ontario; Karl Turner Matthews, Carpenter, Maurice Edward Glen, Bank Manager, Bryan Edmund Walls, Dentist, Philip Henry Alexander, Professor, Armando Felice DeLuca, Barrister, and Lyle Browning, Sales Representative, all of the Town of Windsor, in the County of Essex, in the Province of Ontario;
Orland Bruce Scott, Engineer, of the Town of Maidstone, in the County of Essex, in the Province of Ontario; and Lionel Hanson, Manager, of the Town of McGregor, in the County of Essex, in the Province of Ontario.
Thanks to all of the founders of our Museum—those whose names appeared in the founding documents and those who toiled behind the scenes, doing equally important work to make this dream a reality.
Learn more about the first fifty years of the Amhertburg Freedom Museum in the exhibit A Diverse Past and Living Present: Local Black History and the First Fifty Years of the Amherstburg Freedom Museum. It includes Mac Simpson's handwritten journal with his reflections on history, donated by Janisse Browning and family in 2025. This exhibit is the result of a collaboration between the Amherstburg Freedom Museum and the University of Windsor Department of History, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Images: Melvin "Mac" Simpson, J. Lyle Browning, Phil Alexander, Armando DeLuca, Dr. Bryan Walls, and Bruce Scott
