For Kathy Yarbrough, a teacher who lives in Aurora, the Mobile Museum of Tolerance brought an “extremely important” message during its recent visit to the city.
“I’m an educator here in town and a teacher for 35 years – I teach social studies at the middle school level at Jefferson (in Aurora) and if we could have this at my school, I would love it,” she said. “It’s a very important message to get across especially right now in our country with a lot of divisiveness.”
The Mobile Museum of Tolerance, a branch of the Chicago-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, was launched back in February of 2021. Officials with the museum said that it “is the first traveling education center of its kind in the United States” and offers “free education and awareness about the very real threat of hate and intolerance in our communities.”
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The mobile unit was at the Aurora Public Library West Branch on Tuesday, the library’s Eola Road Branch on Wednesday and at the main Santori Library in downtown Aurora on Thursday.
Ali Lanthrum, events and program coordinator for the Aurora Public Library District, on Thursday said the mobile museum struck a chord with people in town.
“We’ve had a wonderful response from the community and people have been really drawn to the vivid bus which has some diverse figures from history across it and then when they enter the bus they are able to engage with exhibits and information being presented from the Mobile Museum of Tolerance,” Lanthrum said.
Visitors during the museum’s stay in Aurora included those who registered in advance for workshops as well as walk-ins that staff said were welcome.
Lanthrum said the museum “provides visitors with an opportunity for education, reflection and developing compassion.”
“Visitors are encouraged to consider how they can prevent intolerance in their daily lives and we hope that people will come away with exciting, new ideas about how they can improve their communities and foster empathy,” she said.
Elizabeth Blair, an educational associate working inside the mobile museum Thursday, said the museum makes an impact on people.
“People here in Aurora have been very positive and it’s been great to see such a wide range of them coming in. We’ve had some people coming with kids and some older people as well and everybody has been very open to learning and having a conversation,” Blair said Thursday.
Blair said she has been working in her position 21/2 years and that over that time “people have been willing to explore and are very tuned in to current events.”
“The conversations we have on the bus are great and it’s been great to see the educational resources expand over the last several years as we’ve learned more and added more people to our team,” she said.
Blair said the message of tolerance is an important one.
“First, it’s just be aware of what is going on in the world. The first step is being informed and we want to know the issues that are happening,” she said. “Then we need to think about the roles of ordinary people. What can an ordinary person do when he encounters issues of hate and violence in our world? Sometimes, it can start with small steps – having empathy for people and looking at our own behavior and making sure we are treating people with kindness and respect and getting involved with activism in your community.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.