Author Sharon Robart-Johnson (left) unveils the new interpretive panel with Nadine Gates.

A new interpretive panel about the history of slavery in Yarmouth was unveiled at The Yarmouth County Museum and Archives today.

Local author Sharon Robart-Johnson researched and wrote the information presented on the panel.

She was there to unveil it and says its arrival is a long time coming.

“There are a lot of families in Yarmouth, white families included, who have ancestors, not only slave holders, but ancestors who were slaves. It’s important for everyone to know the history whether they want to believe it or not, or talk about it.”

The panel will be installed in the museums main room and direct visitors to the Reminiscences exhibit downstairs.

Director and Curator of museum Nadine Gates says it’s an introduction to the black history of Yarmouth that leads into the Reminiscences exhibit.

“There’s so much that has been accomplished, that the community has been enriched ten-fold,” says Gates. “But it’s never been recognized. We needed to start and tell the story from the beginning.”

Funding for the panel was provided by the Office of African Nova Scotia Affairs through Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage.