Dive into the powerful narratives of African American history and culture at this striking Smithsonian museum that invites deep reflection and inspires connection.
"The newest Smithsonian museum, showcasing African American history and culture." - Michael He
"It’s hard to imagine improving upon the grandeur of the historic National Mall, miles of greenery surrounded by world-class monuments and museums. But in September 2016, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture did just that. This relatively new addition to an iconic landscape houses artifacts, photography, and other media that reflect African American culture and experiences. Here you’ll find Harriet Tubman’s personal hymnal and silk lace and linen shawl, a bill of a sale for a young enslaved girl, Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, photos capturing the participation of Black women during the Civil Rights Movement, and a collection of costumes from ‘The Wiz’. Given the scope and size of the space (85,000 square feet), this is best saved for a day when you have plenty of time to devote." - Adele Chapin
"There's another place that people, especially Americans, must go, and you got to allocate a whole day: the National Museum of African American History and Culture."
"This extraordinary collection encompasses the dark and the light of our nation's racial history, from the shackles, shacks, and whips of slavery to an exuberant lemon-yellow costume worn onstage by Bootsy Collins when playing bass for the funk band Parliament. The story begins several floors below ground-level with information about the early days of the African slave trade. Visitors follow the exhibits through the subsequent floors, climbing ramps as the story progresses through the colonies, the Constitution, the Civil War, Jim Crow and carpetbaggers, the civil rights movement, and up to the present. The exhibits on the upper floors, covering arts and sports and cuisine and community, are a joyous celebration of ongoing history and culture. The crowds who sign up for entry tickets months in advance, and who stand in front of displays and share their stories with complete strangers, are testimony that it's high time this history was honored with its own museum."
"It’s a given that tourists visit the National Mall and explore as many of the Smithsonian institutions as possible, but the newest addition to the museums is especially pivotal as it’s the first-ever in the country to archive and document the African-American experience. Walk the halls and view artifacts like Muhammad Ali’s headgear and Eddie Murphy’s Detroit Lions jacket from Beverly Hills Cop II."
