Written by Craig Kaminer / Photo Alan Karchmer

Some of the most profound experiences I have had in my life have happened in museums. On a recent trip to Washington DC to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, we decided to visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture after hearing so much about it.

The content ranges from the difficult, such as slavery, to the uplifting, with galleries dedicated to sports, music, and social change. Regardless if going for an hour or spending the whole day, everyone will be changed by the experience, realizing the undeniable impact African Americans have had on our country. I always knew this to be true, but until you see it curated by The Smithsonian, you just don’t know how extensive it is. 

The museum tagline, “A Century in the Making,” explores the journey toward the fulfillment of this long-held dream, providing an overview of the century-long struggle to create the museum on the National Mall that began in 1915. and its culminating achievements. The museum has involved the efforts of presidents and members of Congress, curators, architects, art collectors, army veterans, celebrities, and ordinary citizens. 

As we stepped into the building and asked a staff member where we should start, we were told to start at the bottom where the journey begins with exploring the complex story of slavery and freedom, a story standing at the core of our national experience. Beginning in the 15th century with the transatlantic slave trade, through the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, the exhibition uses personal stories to explore the economic and political legacies of slavery for all Americans. Priceless objects featured include an actual slave ship; Harriett Tubman’s shawl and hymn book (c. 1876); Nat Turner’s bible (1830s); shackles used for an enslaved child; a slave cabin from Edisto Island, S.C.; a pocket copy of the Emancipation Proclamation read from by soldiers bringing news of freedom to the U.S. Colored Troops; and freedom papers (c. 1852) carried by a former slave, Joseph Trammell.

As we climbed higher in the building there are a series of galleries on the Era of Segregation 1876–1968. This exhibition takes visitors from the end of Reconstruction through the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The exhibition illustrates how African Americans not only survived the challenges set before them but crafted an important role for themselves in the nation and how the nation was changed due to these struggles. Some of the most powerful artifacts in the museum are located here, including Emmett Till’s casket, a dress made by Rosa Parks, a prison tower from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, a segregated Southern Railway rail car from the Jim Crow era, the Greensboro, N.C., Woolworth’s lunch-counter stools, and a house (c. 1874) built, owned and lived in by freed slaves in Maryland. 

Climbing higher, we found A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond, which illustrates the impact of African Americans on life in the United States—social, economic, political, and cultural—from the death of Martin Luther King Jr. to the second election of President Barack Obama. This exhibition encompasses several sections focusing on the Black Power era of the 1960s and ’70s, Black Studies at universities, racial dynamics in cities and suburbs and the changing role of the black middle class. Subjects include the Black Arts Movement, hip-hop, the Black Panthers, the rise of the black middle class, and, more recently, the Black Lives Matter movement with many references made to St. Louis. The year 1968 is seen as a turning point in the modern struggle for freedom and equality with artifacts such as painted plywood panels from Resurrection City, a “Huey Newton, Minister of Defense” poster, and handmade banners from the 2008 presidential election. 

The stories in the Making a Way Out of No Way gallery show how African Americans created possibilities in a world that denied them opportunities. These stories reflect the perseverance, resourcefulness, and resilience required by African Americans to survive and thrive in America. Each story presents concrete actions and choices that people made to contest the racial status quo in America, challenging visitors to reconsider the notion of freedom as granted to African Americans and to see freedom, along with its privileges and responsibilities, as earned by African Americans. The three main sections are complemented by multimedia components and the institutional pillars of African American life—education, religion, business, organizations,the press, and a tradition of activism.      

The sports gallery looks at the contributions of athletes on and off the field. Because sports were among the first and most high-profile organizations to accept African Americans on relative terms of equality, sports have a unique role in African American culture. Types of artifacts on display include sports equipment, awards, trophies, photos, training logs, playbooks, posters, and flyers. A grip bag and uneven-bar grips used by African American gymnast Gabby Douglas in the 2012 Olympics, a white terrycloth robe worn by Muhammad Ali, and the track shoes and gold medals of Carl Lewis are among the iconic items in the museum’s sports collection.      

The military gallery conveys a sense of appreciation and respect for the military service of African Americans from the American Revolution to the current war on terrorism. It establishes an understanding that the African American military experience shapes opportunities for the greater community and has profoundly shaped the nation. This exhibition helps visitors understand the African American military experience in three areas: “Struggle for Freedom” focusing on the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War; “Segregated Military,” about the Indian Wars, Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II; and “Stirrings of Change to a Colorblind Military,” examining the Korean and Vietnam wars and today’s war on terrorism. Artifacts include Civil War badges, weapons and photographs, the flag of the 9th Regiment U.S. Colored Volunteers, a WWI Croix de Guerre medal awarded to U.S. soldier Lawrence McVey and various Tuskegee Airmen materials.

On the fourth floor are the musical crossroads galleries. This exhibition tells the story of African American music from the arrival of the first Africans to America to today’s hip-hop. The gallery is organized through stories of musical genres and themes rather than chronologically, covering classical, sacred, rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop, and more. Through its content, the exhibition is the space where history and culture intermingle. Music serves as the crossroads between musical traditions and cultural and social development stories.

Among the artifacts in this sound-filled area will be Marian Anderson’s outfit from her 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Also on display is a neon sign from Minton’s Playhouse (1938) in Harlem, known as the birthplace of bebop where Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie performed at Monday-night jam sessions. Thomas Dorsey (known as the father of gospel) is represented by the piano and bench he used at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, where he served as music director for 40 years. Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and The Staples Singers are among those who sang at the church. From the modern era, the exhibition features Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac which he drove on the Fox stage, and Public Enemy, the group that voiced the tenets of black pride and racial awareness.      

Other Galleries include:

The Cultural Expressions exhibition is an introduction to the concept of African American and African diaspora culture. It examines style (identity, political expression, and attitudes expressed in clothing, dress, hair, and jewelry), food and foodways, artistry and creativity through craftsmanship, social dance and gesture, and language. 

The Visual Art and the American Experience gallery illustrates the critical role that African American artists played in shaping the history of American art. It features seven thematic sections and one changing exhibition gallery. Works will include paintings, sculpture, works on paper, art installations, mixed media, photography and digital media.     

The Taking the Stage exhibition explores the history of African Americans in theater, film and television in order to celebrate their creative achievements, demonstrate their cultural impact and illuminate their struggles for equal representation on the stage of American entertainment. Visitors see how African Americans transformed the ways they are represented onstage by challenging racial discrimination and stereotypes and striving to produce more positive, authentic and diverse images of African American identity and experience. Together these stories suggest how African American performing artists also paved the way for broader social change.      

The design of the building features two distinct design elements—the “Corona,” the signature exterior feature that consists of 3,600 bronze-colored cast-aluminum panels weighing a total of 230 tons, and the “Porch,” which serves as the location for the main museum entrance on Madison Drive. The 400,000-square-foot building is situated on a five-acre tract adjacent to the Washington Monument. Total cost for construction and installation of exhibitions was $540 million, one-half funded by federal funds and the remainder by the Smithsonian.  

Next time you are in Washington DC, make sure to visit this incredible museum. Your eyes will be opened further and you will begin to understand more completely what it is like to be an African American.