Today I used the library’s Discover & Go program to check-out a FREE pass to the Oakland Museum of California. Library card holders (at least 15 years old) may reserve free and discounted passes to museums and cultural institutions. The person named on the pass must be one of the people visiting the museum (and, yes, they do check your ID). The Oakland Museum pass admits up to two adults and two children (for a savings of up to $36).
OMCA is currently featuring The 1968 Exhibit covering the history, culture, and politics of that pivotal year. The exhibit features a Huey Helicopter, clothing (including an outfit worn by Janis Joplin), furniture, and other artifacts related to the time period. Highlights of the exhibit include the interactive and multimedia displays. You can use an old fashioned polling machine to vote for one of the presidential candidates running in 1968 (Robert F. Kennedy currently has an overwhelming lead), design your own album cover (and have the image e-mailed to you), and play a musical trivia game (Tammy Wynette was the only answer I knew, which says something about the type of music I listen to). I highly recommend visiting this amazing exhibit while it’s in Oakland though August 19th. While you’re there, check out the recently redesigned California history exhibit which just won the American Association of Museum’s 24th Annual Excellence in Exhibition Award.
For a book related to The 1968 Exhibit, check-out One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. From the catalog: “In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.”
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