You can see thousands of stories — African-American stories — in Elizabeth Meaders' home on Staten Island. The stories are told by artifacts she has lovingly collected over more than 60 years.
"It's one thing to hear a story, and another thing to see a story — one is more confirming, more compelling, more truthful," said Meaders.
It's an impressive collection, spanning topics like religion, sports, entertainment, slavery and civil rights, encompassing the black experience in America and her family's experience as well.
"It's always been a labor of love,” Meaders told NY1. “[It’s] just something that I did that kind of grew, because one of the challenges is, when you're starting to tell a story, you realize some of the pieces are missing. And the story will have greater impact if you stick with it and try to fill in the gaps."
Some of the items are hard to look at: a whip, used on the backs of enslaved people, a branding iron, the hooded robes of the KKK.
"Believe it or not, this is even a Ku Klux Klan water pistol," Meaders said while showing NY1 her astonishing collection.
Restroom signs for "whites and colored," water buckets reserved for African-Americans in the segregated south, the items fill her basement, her first floor, and line the stairs to her second floor where there's more.
"These are things that I live with. See, this is an example of my religious collection. This is the Black Jew and that's the leader of the Black Muslims," Meaders explained.
She traces her family to the last enslaved person sold on Staten Island in the 1700s. Her grandfather, William Morris, founded the borough's first NAACP chapter. P.S. 61, Morris Intermediate School, is named after him.
Meaders says his activism, and appreciation of their family's history, inspired her curiosity and search for items documenting that experience.
"I would track it down, piece by piece, you know, a lot of collectors buy collections intact. My collection consists of one at a time items that I ferreted out," Meaders said.
There are tapestries, dolls, figurines, and sports memorabilia, like a pair of boxing shoes worn by Muhammad Ali.
Meaders has been trying for the last several years to attract the attention of a politician, a school group, a museum or even a philanthropist, who can help bring her collection to the public. So far, she's had no luck.
Now 87, Meaders worries about what will happen to her collection when she passes away. It’s a collection documenting the struggles and the successes of her family, and African-Americans.