The Eric Edwards Collection is the result of over 48 years of Edwards’ work as a private collector. He has amassed one of the most important private collections of African art in the world. Over 2,500 artifacts reside alongside Mr. Edwards in his Brooklyn home, which has become a museum. The collection represents all 54 countries of Africa and spans over 4000 years of history. In the 1970s Eric Edwards, a Brooklyn native, acquired his first piece of African art-- a statue of a Bambara maternity female from Mali for $300. With this purchase his love for African Art was born, and soon escalated into an obsession for acquiring one-of-a-kind African artifacts. "I went to auctions, galleries, private acquisition sales, as well as travelling extensively around the world. I started purchasing pieces when they were truly affordable and started building my collection,” he said in an interview. Edwards credits his father James, who came to America from Barbados at 17, with teaching him about Africa’s contributions to mankind. Those lessons empowered him with a self-respect and dignity that gave him a sense of real equality.