The Smithsonian Institute is ready to open the brand new National Museum of African American History.
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The Great Depression, new national priorities, inevitable political obstruction and fading interests, stalled the project for generations, but on September 24, the once deferred dream of African-American war veterans will become a reality that makes its home mere steps away from the Washington Monument. This national museum not only contains images and artifacts of African-American culture from North America but historical images and artifacts of African origin from throughout the African diaspora, including such South American countries as Ecuador. Many exhibits are on the history of slavery and how black people were packed into ships like sardines.
The 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution will welcome visitors later this month. The Smithsonian has built a legacy of telling deep, culturally rich stories that demonstrate the beauty of history in our lives.
The building designed by Ghanaian-born architect David Adjaye is 60 percent underground.
The historic “Freedom Bell” usually hangs in Williamsburg, Va., in the tower of the First Baptist Church, which was founded by slaves. On the lowest level, tiny shackles small enough to fit a child are on display, along with a slave cabin, and a segregated train auto from the Jim Crow era.
The museum features many rare pieces including a single silver spoon donated by SC native, Dawn Corley. The 1,200-pound aluminum stage prop will be located in the museum’s Musical Crossroads exhibition, which will provide a chronology of African American music from its beginnings through the present. Established more than a decade ago, it has been accumulating items to tell the story of America through the African-American lens. But we also tell stories of spirituality.
“The Power of Place”, an exhibition on the third floor, is about “the diversity of African-American history and culture across a wide expanse. thematic, chronological and geographic”, Paul Gardullo, one of the museum’s curators, recently told NPR.
The museum organizers wanted to help the United States face and remember its past, museum founding director Lonnie Bunch said on Wednesday at a presentation for the press.
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The museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts to date, according to its website.
