May 10--Lt. Col. Tran Ngoc "Harry" Hue spent 13 years imprisoned by Hanoi captors for refusing to turn against the U.S. military.
As a high school senior, Ken Reinhardt stood up to bullies when he stood by nine African-American teenagers who integrated into his all-white school in Little Rock, Ark., in the 1950s.
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Journalism student Therese Frare's haunting 1990 photograph of an AIDS victim on his deathbed became a rallying cry for compassion amid a growing HIV epidemic.
Hue. Reinhardt. Frare. They aren't exactly household names, and that's the point. They're just a few of the unsung heroes highlighted in a new Kansas museum opening this month.
Located about 90 miles south of Kansas City, Mo., in Fort Scott, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes tells the stories of ordinary people whose extraordinary actions have been overlooked in the classroom and beyond. The nonprofit group works with students and teachers to uncover these lesser-known, often accidental activists and bring them to light in numerous ways, from school projects and websites to plays, documentaries and exhibits.
Since 2007, the center has operated a small exhibit gallery at 4 S. Main St. in downtown Fort Scott. The new facility at 1 S. Main is much larger at 6,000 square feet. It features a 48-seat theater and more high-tech displays, among other things. A center spokeswoman said the former gallery will be a "discovery lab" for educators and students to do research and project-based learning on unsung heroes.
The museum's regular hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Starting in June it will be open Saturdays in the summer from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free; 620-223-9991, www.lowellmilkencenter.org.
The new center debuts May 24, when Hue, Reinhardt, Frare and other unsung heroes and family members are scheduled to be at the grand opening to share their stories firsthand.
lrackl@tribpub.com
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