JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – America's first black history wax museum made a stop in Fernandina Beach Tuesday during its national tour.
The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum was founded by a local woman who wants to keep African-American history alive.
Organizers say the mobile museum, which includes figures of Walter White, James "Jesse" Owens and Asa Philip Randolph, gives back to the community in a special way.
The figures are of those who helped pave the way for civil rights in America.
Dr. Joanne Mitchell-Martin is a Nassau County native who helped create the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. Every year she tours the nation with some very special people made of wax.
"People are going to gravitate toward it in a way that they would not for art and so forth, and the minute they ask, 'Who is that?' or 'What is that?' then you're in a position to teach," Mitchell-Martin said.
The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum was created in 1983 as a traveling museum of only four wax figurines. Now about 150 fill the brick-and-mortar museum in Maryland.
Some of the figurines are made of 100 percent wax and can take up to seven months and $50,000 to create.
Museum organizers work with sculptors and historical organizations to get the wax figurines just right.
People traveled from all over northeast Florida to get a glimpse of history on Tuesday.
"To see something like this up close and personal, it's very amazing," Jacksonville resident Gerald Clawson said. "It's almost like we went back in time and got them and brought them to today."
The theme this year is "From Civil Wrongs, to Civil Rights" and features seven life-like replicas of civil rights activists, each with a story of how they helped change history.
"They taught us to have a sense of pride in the midst of a system that was intended to strip you of your human dignity," Mitchell-Martin said.
"When you know where you come from, you know where you're going and as a black person in this country, you can have a greater appreciation and greater love for your heritage," Clawson said.
Sponsorships and donations from groups like the NAACP and Southwest Airlines help fund the creation of new wax figurines and the national tour. Proceeds from the exhibit help fund a youth program benefiting children from across the country, including northeast Florida.
The Fernandina Beach display ended Tuesday. The tour will make its way to Tallahassee and across the country. For more info, visit http://www.greatblacksinwax.org.