(AllHipHop News) Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli, The Game actress Lauren London, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, and House of Pain actor Lance Gross are all featured as celebrity curators in the new short film series Untold Stories: Our Inspired History.
Untold Stories is sponsored by Wells Fargo as part of the year long celebration of “The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey.” The National Medal for Museum and Library Services winning exhibition highlights African American art dating from the 1600’s to the present.
The contributing stars for Untold Stories each give details about an artifact and its creator from the Kinsey Collection. Gross tells the story of Josiah Walls, one of the first African American men to serve in the United States Congress. Sparks covers the accomplishments of Phillis Wheatley, the first African American female poet to be published.
Kweli shares a letter written by Henry Butler who requests the chance to purchase his family’s freedom from slavery. London covers Carrie Kinsey’s 1903 letter to President Theodore Roosevelt asking for help to find her missing brother. The Kinsey letter inspired Bernard and Shirley Kinsey to start the Kinsey Collection.
“The Kinsey Collection strives to give our ancestors a voice, name and personality, enabling the viewer to understand the challenges, obstacles, triumphs and extraordinary sacrifice of African Americans who’ve greatly contributed to the success of this country,” said Bernard Kinsey in a statement.
The Kinsey Collection is touring the nation in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. It can currently be seen at the Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Re-Discovering America: Family Treasures from the Kinsey Collection” will be showing at the Walt Disney World Resort’s Epcot Center through 2015.
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Watch Talib Kweli’s “Family First” and Lauren London’s “Tenacity of Hope” below. To view more videos from Untold Stories visit www.youtube.com/wellsfargo.
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