This week’s Highlights From The Second Life Destination Guide features the usual mix of art, fun and adventure and it also includes diversity and history. I’m going to take a brief look at some of those destinations, starting with the Virtual Black History Museum.
The blurb from the Destination Guide informs us :
The Virtual Black History Museum is an awareness project that takes a look at the timeline of events that led from the first group of slaves in what is now the United States through the brutality of Rodney King in 1992. There will also be scheduled discussions on the current events that the past has led to, as well as the impact of those who have contributed to the growth of the community.
The installment itself was created by Bria Oceanside and features a series of boards inside the hall filled with text and pictures. Some of the imagery and text is shocking, so be warned, but that’s part of history and is definitely very informative and achieves the stated goal of raising awareness.
There’s also a nice outdoor cafe area where you can sit, reflect and engage in discussion with friends regarding the installation if you wish.
SLURL : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Herald/43/193/122/
Next up is the LGBT International Resource Centre which packs a lot into its spaces.
Navigation is via a multi-teleporter from where you can select to visit the resource centre which contains the following welcome information :
We are glad you could join us. At the center we are committed to providing you with tools to educate your selves and others as well as providing real world links per country. There are also 24 hour suicide prevention hot-lines available if you find your self in need. If you hover your mouse over a sign on the wall and click it you will get links out onto your web browser. If you need to talk to someone that is online in Second life look for someone in the group with the tag of Historian or leader they will be able to assist you. This area is also the home of our peer to peer group sessions that are held every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. Make your self at home here please relax and pet bell the cat she will love your for it. If you would like to volunteer at the center contact Nicolette1nico2nikki by leaving her a notecard Thank you.
There’s also a history walk, where you can learn about The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot and The Stonewall uprising.
If that’s not enough, there’s a museum, a transgender memorial centre, art and much more.
SLURL : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lippert/144/221/179/
Next up is the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The interactive Kristallnacht exhibition is currently installed here and it’s a very moving and informative exhibit. The notecard at the entrance to the exhibit informs us :
KRISTALLNACHT: A NATIONWIDE POGROM
November 9-10, 1938“Prelude to Destruction”
The pretext for the violent pogroms of Kristallnacht was the November 7 assassination of a German diplomat in Paris, Ernst vom Rath, by Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish teenager whose parents, along with 17,000 other Polish Jews, had been recently expelled from the Reich. Initially denied entry into their native Poland, Grynszpan’s parents and the other expelled Polish Jews found themselves stranded in a refugee camp near the town of Zbaszyn in the border region between Poland and Germany. Though the Nazis portrayed the pogroms as spontaneous outbursts of popular outrage, they were calculated acts of retaliation carried out by the SA, SS, and local Nazi party organizations.
This exhibit is a guided and interactive tour, you click objects to learn and reveal more, with information provided in chat.
The tour also involves audio and that audio is very moving, it should never happen again really resonates here and if you haven’t visited I really urge you to do so. This is a virtual world use case of great quality, wonderfully informative and as I’ve said, very moving.
To learn more about Kristallnacht go to this page :
http://www.ushmm.org/kristallnacht
SLURL : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/US%20Holocaust%20Museum1/25/34/26/