The Woodridge Public Library lobby will be packed with history Sunday. 

Several exhibits, all part of the Harris Family's Black History exhibit, will be open for viewing from 1 to 5 p.m. 

There's farm equipment dating to the 1890's, black art, cloth and woodworking. There's an exhibit on the Black West, encompassing Black Indians, Black Pioneers and Buffalo Soldiers.

Another exhibit, called the "Black and Red Experience," explains how the histories of Black and Native Americans are closely tied in America, as Native Americans welcomed black slaves in their tribes. 

There's information on Madame C. J. Walker, the first black female millionaire in the United States. 

Finally, there's an exhibit highlighting the role of Mennonites, the Amish and Quakers in the Underground Railroad, including how they used quilts to communicate. 

The exhibit has been presented in Woodridge for at least a decade, according to Susan McNeil-Marshall, executive director of the Woodridge Public Library.

It's a labor of love by Van Harris, his wife, Barbara, and their family. Van and Barbara Harris have lived in Woodridge for 27 years.

Van Harris is part Native American, part German and part African American, he said. He grew up in Sardis, MS, on a cotton farm with six brothers. As he saw smaller farms go out of business as big farms pushed them out, he started collecting pieces of farm equipment that were up for sale or left behind. That was the start of the exhibit. 

He's collected more over the years and travels with his wife around the country, learning more and adding to the exhibits. 

It's important to present this information to the community because it's not taught in school, Harris said. 

"They learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," every year," Harris said. "There's a lot more that happened before Martin Luther King. Black history is a part of American history."

Harris and his six brothers were the first blacks in his community to go to college. From there, they dispersed across the country to Tennessee, California, Michigan and Illinois. They all became teachers and hold master's degrees, he said. One of his brothers is a professor at Stanford. 

Harris' brothers will travel to Woodridge on Friday to help organize and prepare the exhibit for Sunday. The exhibit, which receives no outside funding, would not go on without them, Van Harris said. Harris and his family researched and gathered every piece that will be shown and will be on-hand Sunday to distribute pamphlets and other information and to answer questions. 

The exhibits are interactive, and Harris stresses that visitors are invited to handle the artifacts. 

The exhibits have only been presented in Woodridge -- at St. Scholastica and Woodridge United Methodist Church in addition to the library.