Welcome to the ‘Man CAM’: Bobby Stewart has his own black cultural arts museum in his Kinloch home

When Bobby Stewart leaves his job in security, he goes into a refuge he created, full of his art, along with the hopes and dreams of a people, and an indelible part of this nation’s history.

Stewart turned his living room in Kinloch into a man cave/black history museum. He calls it his “man CAM” – as in man cave and cultural arts museum. But this is his apartment where he lives.

“I come into a world that is 100 percent totally different than what I am exposed to outside,” Stewart said. “When I come in, I know I’m somewhere in an environment – a welcome relief from everyday pressures of outside. Because in the outside world, you have to deal with circumstances and environments you necessarily don’t want to be part of, and those are things you cannot control.”

When he gets home, he is greeted with hundreds of items he has collected over the years, reminiscent of the accomplishments and the marvel of greatness that comes from within.

His collection reflects his “personal interest in the areas of geography, history, African culture, things of that nature,” Stewart said. “It all started to just grow and expand.”

When he started restructuring his display, he spotlighted historical African-American inventors.

“I felt that they never get the type of exposure and awareness that they truly deserve,” Stewart said, “because their technological prowess has helped not only this country, but all over the world.”

For example: the traffic light (invented by Garrett Morgan, 1923, the shoe lasting machine (Jan Matzeliger, 1883); the third rail. an electrical power conduit system for railways (Granville Woods, 1901).

“These things were invented by black people,” Stewart said. “Nobody else came up with these technologies.”

Flags of African nations adorn the ceiling; maps cover the front door; and everywhere are images of African-American scientists, athletes and authors who rose above adversity, simmering racism and bigotry.

“I felt that is was incumbent that I create an environment where, when people come over, they can see this and they can see the diagrams,” Stewart said, “and they can have more of an appreciation. Because, again, that awareness is severely lacking.”

The apartment is his home, his castle, and his man-CAM.

“It’s something that gives me great psychological and emotional relief,” Stewart said, “because what’s represented is what comes from me, and I’m just a conduit through which the talent from the universe has supplied me.”