The National Museum of African American History & Culture

Last weekend I went to the District and of course I had to get to the Museum of African American History & Culture. I love visiting museums in different cities, and this has been on my radar since it opened.

In the south, civil rights and the history of segregation is embedded in your education. You get pieces of the start of slavery here, a fact or two about the civil war there. But I never realized I didn’t understand the journey from beginning to end.

We were taught the Louisiana Purchase until you can recite it in your sleep. But we never talked about its relation to slavery. This was my entire experience going through the well sectioned periods of the lower concourse.

While it is difficult to deal with some of the content in the museum, because thery’re ideologies still fueled today. It was still important for me to get through this with an open heart which was very difficult at times.

The Journey

The lower half of the museum (the only part I made it through) walks you through 3 sections– Slavery & Freedom: 1400 – 1877; Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation: 1877 – 1968; and A Changing America: 1968 and BEYOND.

In Slavery & Freedom: 1400 – 1877, I learned how the actual idea of slavery changed with the introduction of European conquest. America, founded for freedom, was fueled by the exact opposite because of greed. Poor whites who identified more with slaves rose to fight the power and wealth disparities. The Bacon Rebellion tipped the power scales causing an even higher fuel to racial tension.

School teachings usually focus on the surface of events from the Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation: 1877 – 1968. I remember my mother sharing stories with me of this time. Here we see just how the formation of the colonies and states shape the systems we are still fighting today. The systems grew because the transatlantic slave trade now ruled illegal, put plantation owners in greater needed of free labor.

In this section they also displayed Emmett Till’s actual casket in a memorial cove. There was no recording or pictures allowed. The casket is just high enough so you have to peek to see a picture of Emmett’s mutilated face. A time in history that sparked an outrage and thrist for change that still felt alive in that room.

Finally, A Changing America: 1968 and BEYOND shows a time when blackness becomes more accepted. The resistance of black force, its creativity and pop culture influence her to commercialize it.

I barely got through half the museum in 2.5 hours. This may have been for the best because it allowed me to process the journey I had just walked through. I can’t wait to get back there at the end of Spring to finish the rest.

Photos