ROCHESTER, N.Y. — From former prosecutor to judge, Van White has worn many hats in the city of Rochester.

He is a collector of history and he's providing a look inside his Black History museum.

What You Need To Know

  • Judge Van White shows parts of the historic Woolworth company from the 1960s

  • Four African American students staged a sit-in in Greensboro, NC to end segregation

  • Majority of things inside the museum are original

"This is a museum where you can touch history," said White as he described a setting inside the museum. "So I want people to know, when you touch this Nehi ... Nehi used to be a wonderful orange drink that people would drink in the 50s and 60s. The only thing that's not original is the lunch counter. The lunch counter is a recreation of the Greensboro four's Woolworth's lunch counter."

"These were seats where only white people could sit at a certain period in time," White continued. "Now they do look nice, and that's because I had them restored. The plates come from a Woolworth in Birmingham during the 1940s and 50s. So when you pick up these forks that say Woolworth's on them, you're picking up a fork that only a white person for a time could hold."

"The soda fountain machines, the pie racks, this donut tray. If we examine the machine you can see that it has all the telltale signs of a legitimate authentic register, which, by the way, once again, when this register was used, it was only used at a time when white folks could purchase stuff," White added.

"Students of history will be able to sit here and watch on the monitor. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and members of the Greensboro four talk about what happened here in the actual seats that people possessed in the 1950s as they protested," said White. "Those young men had to have such courage to refuse to give up their seats. They feared nothing. And so I say to people in court, I say to people in the community, this is who we need to emulate."

Members of the public can tour the museum. To schedule a visit, click here.