Edited by Azizi Powell
This post presents information about the National Museum of African American History and Culture which finally opened on September 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C. This post also showcases five videos that highlight some of the exhibits that are found in that museum.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and inspirational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those enslaved African Americans, and other African Americans upon whose shoulders we now stand.
Thanks also to all those involved in the formation of this cultural museum, and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_African_American_History_and_Culture
"The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in December 2003. The museum's building, designed by David Adjaye, is on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. Early efforts to establish a federally owned museum featuring African American history and culture can be traced to 1915, although the modern push for such an organization did not begin until the 1970s. After years of little success, a much more serious legislative push began in 1988 that led to authorization of the museum in 2003. A site was selected in 2006. The museum opened September 24, 2016, in a ceremony led by U.S. President Barack Obama.[1]
he Smithsonian Institution listed the number of items in the museum collection in 2012 as either more than 18,000 pieces[85] or more than 25,000 pieces.[86] CBS News reported in May 2015 that the collection size had grown to 33,000 objects.[87]
Items obtained by the museum initially were received, conserved, and stored at the Smithsonian Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland. Dozens of permanent curatorial staff and temporary contractors accessed the items, repaired them, and conserved them in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. Renée Anderson, the NMAAHC's head of collections, oversaw the effort. After artifacts were selected for display, graphics and labels for each item were manufactured. Display cases for each item were also purchased, and exhibiting mounts or specially designed cases handcrafted for particularly fragile, important, or unusually sized objects. Museum officials said all artifacts and displays will be moved into the new museum in the summer of 2016, along with the museum's 175 full-time employees.[68]
As of September 2016, notable items in the collection included:
Items owned by Harriet Tubman, including eating utensils, a hymnal, and a linen and silk shawl given to her by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Related items include a photographic portrait of Tubman (one of only a few known to exist), and three postcards with images of Tubman's 1913 funeral.[88]
The glass-topped casket originally used to display and bury the body of 14-year-old Emmett Till, the victim of racially motivated torture and murder in Mississippi. Till's death sparked the 1950s and '60s African American Civil Rights Movement.[89][90]
The dress which Rosa Parks was sewing the day she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955. Parks' action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and her action was one of the first incidents of civil disobedience in the 1950s and '60s African American Civil Rights Movement.[91]
A Selmer trumpet owned by jazz musician Louis Armstrong.[92]
A dress owned by actress and singer Pearl Bailey.[91]
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A cape and jumpsuit owned by American soul singer James Brown.[92]
The "Mothership", a 1,200-pound (540 kg) aluminum and acrylic glass prop created by funk music singer George Clinton and used during performances of his bands Parliament and Funkadelic. Clinton's original "Mothership" was scrapped in 1983; this replica was crafted by Clinton in the mid-1990s and used for about five years.[93]
A collection of costumes designed by director and costume designer Geoffrey Holder for his 1976 musical, The Wiz (an adaptation of the L. Frank Baum novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).[91] The costumes won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design, the play won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and Holder won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.
A cherry red Cadillac convertible owned by rock and roll singer Chuck Berry.[85]
An amplifier, speakers, and turntables used by Tony Crush a.k.a. DJ Tony Tone of the Cold Crush Brothers.[85]
A railroad car from Chattanooga, Tennessee, used by African American passengers during the Jim Crow era. Pete Claussen and Gulf & Ohio Railways (the company he founded in 1985) donated more than $222,000 to restore the car, which was built by the Pullman Company in 1922.[94]
A sign from a bus in Nashville, Tennessee, from the Jim Crow era which indicates which seating is for blacks only.[92]
A segregated drinking fountain from the Jim Crow era with the sign "colored" (indicating it was for use by blacks only).[92]
A badge from 1850, worn by an African American in Charleston, South Carolina, indicating the wearer was a slave.[92]
Feet and wrist manacles from the American Deep South used prior to 1860.[92]
Garments worn by African American slaves.[91]
An 1874 home from Poolesville, Maryland. The dwelling was constructed by the Jones family, who were freed slaves. The Joneses later founded an all-black community nearby.[92]
Boxing headgear worn by Cassius Clay (later to be known as Muhammad Ali)
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Click that link for the complete list that is available on that page.
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From http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Smithsonian-National-Museum-of-African-American-History-Opens-to-the-Public-Saturday-394453031.html
Bells rang out throughout Washington, D.C. Saturday as the Smithsonian's highly anticipated National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., opened after more than 100 years in the making.
Centuries of struggles and strife, decades of planning and pain, and years of hoping for a place that African-American history can call home culminated as President Barack Obama officially dedicated the museum Saturday morning.
The president opened the museum with the ringing of the historic Freedom Bell from the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, which was organized in 1776 by slaves.
Obama said the new national museum will help to tell a richer and fuller story of the country....
With thousands of items occupying 85,000 square feet of exhibition space, the new Smithsonian will chronicle the complex relationship between the United States and a people it once enslaved, and tell the story of those who worked to make the necessary changes to bring the country to where it is today...
The dedication featured speeches by Obama, civil rights leader U.S. Rep. John Lewis, former President George W. Bush and the museum's founding director, Lonnie Bunch. It also featured rousing musical tributes with a local flair, including Howard University's "Showtime" marching band and an a capella presentation by a choir from D.C.'s Duke Ellington School for the Arts.
The museum, the 19th and newest of the Smithsonians, opened to the public following the dedication ceremony....
A free three-day festival celebrating the talent and creativity of African-American artists is also taking place on the Washington Monument grounds. The Freedom Sounds festival features jazz, R&B, gospel and hip-hop artists throughout the weekend. The Roots, Living Colour and Public Enemy headlined the festival Saturday night, and a surprise special guest is slated to perform Sunday."...
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Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZMuu5fi4Ic for a two hour forty minutes plus video about the National Museum of African American History and Culture Grand Opening Ceremony.
Among the musical highlights of that ceremony is 11:14 - 18:49 of this video - songs by Benin, West Africa vocalist Angelique Kidjo
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS:
Example #1: A new home for African American treasures
CBS Sunday Morning, Published on Sep 11, 2016
After years of planning and construction, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture opens its doors on September 24. The new building is home to a massive collection of artifacts showcasing four centuries of African-American life in the United States. Several celebrities, including music legend Quincy Jones, contributed personal treasures to the museum. He gave correspondent Lee Cowan a sneak preview of the new building and its historic collection.
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Example #2: Inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture
CBS This Morning Published on Sep 12, 2016
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture will open its doors to the public Sept. 24. "CBS This Morning" co-hosts Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell joined the museum's founding director, Lonnie Bunch, for a tour of what makes the 19th and newest Smithsonian museum
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Example #3: Inside the the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Geoff Bennett Published on Sep 16, 2016
In less than two weeks, the long-awaited Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture will open its doors to the public.
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Example #4: The National Museum of African American History opens in Washington, DC
CCTV America, Published on Sep 23, 2016
The National Museum of African American History will officially open its doors in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24. African-Americans, once considered three-fifths of a person, will see their history displayed for visitors to come and understand Black America's centuries- long struggle for human dignity. CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports.
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Example #5: Obama opens first African American history museum in US
Al Jazeera English Published on Sep 24, 2016
The first national US museum devoted exclusively to African American history and culture has opened in Washington DC.
President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and former President George W. Bush were among the dignitaries in attendance.
Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports from Washington.
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