Owners of the “Kinsey Collection” spoke to audiences on campus Sunday, a day after the opening of the exhibit displaying over 100 of their treasures in African-American history.
Bernard Kinsey, former Xerox vice president, Shirley Kinsey, his wife and former teacher and Khalil Kinsey, their son and curator of the collection, presented “An Afternoon with Bernard and Shirley Kinsey: Exposing the Untold Stories of African American Achievement and Contribution” in Bettersworth Auditorium at Lee Hall.
Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, both Florida natives, attended Florida A&M where they met in 1963 after a civil rights protest where Shirley was arrested. The two married after graduating in 1967 and moved to Los Angeles with only $26 to their name. 
The couple began the collection in the mid-1980s after Khalil, then in the third grade, brought home a homework assignment to research his family’s history. They soon began to realize they did not know enough about their own culture.
“We decided to collect what I call our ‘collective ancestry,’” Shirley Kinsey said. “(Which includes) all the wonderful stories and contributions of our people.”
During the event, Bernard Kinsey presented the audience with a virtual tour of the collection. The tour featured the artifacts on display at MSU, highlighting a first edition of poems by Phillis Wheatley’s from 1773, prints of the first black Congress members, correspondence from Martin Luther King, Jr. and copies of the Dred Scott and Brown v. Board of Education court decisions. Bernard led the audience through the complete history of African-Americans from the first Africans coming to America in the 16th century to the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. 
Bernard said the key to a unified and equal future begins with recognizing and informing others about the successes African-Americans have had in the past.
“When you get new information, you change your mind,” Bernard Kinsey said. “We love being here at Mississippi State.”
Their son grew up with an ever-expanding collection of his African-American history. Khalil Kinsey recalls his friends coming over just to learn more about the collection.
“Speaking from personal experience, I can say this collection has a transformative effect,” Khalil Kinsey said. “The information contained in it challenges, inspires and gives broader context to our rich and complex history.” 
The Kinsey Collection is one of the most important African-American art and history exhibits in the world, and has been seen by over four million visitors since the start of its national tour in 2007. The collection houses more than 100 original historical artifacts, documents and pieces of art that tell the often untold and forgotten story of the history and experience of African-Americans from the 1600s to the present.
“What the Kinsey Collection does is put the ‘African’ in American history,” Bernard Kinsey said. “This is the story of a people who did so much with so little, and this collection begins to fill in the blanks, trying to give those people a voice, a personality and a name.”
Representatives of Visit Mississippi urge the MSU and Starkville community to preview the Kinsey Collection.
“The cultural assets that our colleges and universities in Mississippi can offer visitors are unparalleled,” Visit Mississippi Director Malcolm White said. “We are pleased to partner with Mississippi State University in bringing this impressive collection of African-American treasures to our state.”