Is the brainchild of David A Peterson Jr., who brought the program concept with him when he joined the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum as it present in 2011. Peterson created the program’s concept while still a college student at Florida A& M University. 

The Museum 44 “Where Hip Hop Meets History” program uses popular culture, media and positive role models, to help African American youth develop the capacity to reject violence and work to improve their communities. It is often said that today’s African American youth do not have role models that exemplify the traditional “American” values that undergird the traits that have contributed to this nation’s growth. We know this is inaccurate.  

African American role models that embody traditional values do exist and have for decades. One such group of Black men was the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Pullman Car Porters are African American men who worked on Americas Trains in the 30’s 40’s and 50’s  whom A. Phillip Randolph organized into America’s first Black Labor movement.  Sadly too few of our young people know about these men and their heroic efforts to maintain their dignity and self respect as they endured hardships and serious racial prejudice in the process of them doing their jobs. 

The Museum 44 program will conduct concerted and sustained programmatic efforts to educate Chicago’s young people about the Pullman Porters and how these African American men embody the “American Values” upon which this country was built. Youth will be provided with examples of how these men won the respect of the Nation and rectified the wrongs perpetrated against them.

Just as the Macabees have provided examples of heroism and pride for Jewish Youth for centuries, Museum 44 will help African American youth understand that they have historical heroes that can motivate them to gain skills and attributes to overcome obstacles of crime and violence they face in their communities.