021325...R IM WAX MUSEUM 1...Warren...02-13-25...Miciah Lampley, 15, right, and Trinity Thomas, 18, both Warren G. Harding students, portraying Eli Holman and his wife Thelma, owners of Eli's BBQ in Warren...by R. Michael Semple

WARREN — While Miciah Lampley didn’t choose to research Eli Holman, a Warren pastor who founded Eli’s Famous Bar-B-Que, it also didn’t stop him from being immersed in his life.

“We learned different facts about them — like Eli was a pastor at Tabernacle Church of God in Christ and he got an award from Jimmy Carter and it was for outstanding service to the poor and the needy,” Lampley, a 15-year-old Trumbull Career & Technical Center student, said. “I was surprised, I was fascinated about what I learned.”

Lampley, dressed as Holman, was one of 100 students who participated in an inaugural “Wax Live” Museum in honor of Black History Month on Thursday. The museum was hosted by Inspiring Minds, a nonprofit focused on youth development from third grade through career.

The museum recognized 20 individuals in various fields who were born in the city and went on to make historical and lasting contributions to Black History in their very own communities, such as Paul Warfield, Bill White and Helen Albert, Trumbull County’s first African-American registered nurse.

Program Director Carl Diggs explained that they wanted kids to understand the rich and impactful lives of those individuals who called the city home, putting them in contact with family members.

“We just want the kids to kind of dig deep, and search for the black history in the city in which they come from; so a lot of — like the first firefighter, the first deputy sheriff, there was a lady, Ms. King, who made wonderful strawberry cake that everybody raved about in our area,” Diggs said. “So we just wanted people to do that research and of course, we have the Paul Warfields of the world who went on to do amazing things and the Bill Whites.”

Out of the various mediums they could have chosen to present those figures, Diggs said he wanted the kids to be able to interact with the people who came through and visit. He also wanted them to be able to present their research instead of just accumulating it, something he felt was “very important.”

“I wanted to see the opportunity for the parents and the people who support our organization, I want them to have the opportunity to see what their money goes to,” Diggs said. “By them investing in the kids, into the program, we’re able to provide programs such as this.”

Work on the “Wax Live” museum began three months prior, Diggs said, between researching the people, soliciting ideas from community members and ordering the costumes. He admitted the kids were a bit put off by the project initially, but that quickly changed.

“Sometimes when you present them with a project, they are put off, (but) when they start doing the interviews, once the costumes start rolling in, they really got engaged in the whole process,” Diggs said. “They really got excited about it.”

He said it was something Inspiring Minds has never done before, but thought it would be a good first that kids would be excited about once they “truly understood” what was going on.

Diggs said he plans on doing something similar next year, but they’ll look to expand it more with plays, concerts and things of a similar nature.