Museum on blacks advances

An exhibit on black feminism is being prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution.
An exhibit on black feminism is being prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution.

WASHINGTON -- The National Museum of African American History and Culture promises to become an instant favorite when it opens Sept. 24, its soaring spaces and magical views of the National Mall a fitting setting for its tale of the history and achievements of blacks in America.

photo

The Washington Post

Slave cabins from the early 1800s will be part of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Museum officials recently offered a sneak peek at the 400,000-square-foot museum, the 19th of the Smithsonian Institution, that's next to the Washington Monument. President Barack Obama is expected to cut the ribbon on the dramatic space, which features layers of galleries focused on slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement as well as music, entertainment, sports and politics.

"This is a long time coming. It's exciting to see it go from paper to 3-D," says Collections Manager Gina Whiteman.

There is much to be done in the coming months. Wires still hang from the ceiling, and crates of artifacts are parked in every corner of the galleries. Display cases are being built on lower levels, while in the music galleries, cases labeled Bo Diddley, Little Richard and the Jackson 5 await their treasures.

Museum staff members must install 3,000 artifacts -- as well as accompanying videos, photos and wall text -- that will be on view in 11 inaugural exhibitions. Staff must be moved in, the 400-seat cafeteria brought online and metal detectors must be installed at the two entrances.

But progress is on track, says Charles Yetter, a senior project manager with construction consultant McKissack & McKissack who has been working on the building for six years. The Oprah Winfrey Theater, a stunning 350-seat space with echoes of the building's bronze exterior, appears to be complete. Officials are deciding on the quotes to be included in the Contemplative Court, a room off the history galleries that includes a dramatic skylight and a waterfall.

After entering the central court, visitors will be encouraged to take an elevator 40 feet underground, where the journey begins with the global slave trade. A series of ramps will take visitors through time and space, through slavery, segregation and the civil rights era.

Most of the displays are still off-site, but several large items are in place, although many are wrapped in plastic: the weathered wood cabin used during the period of slavery at Point of Pines Plantation on Edisto Island, S.C.; a log cabin of free slaves from Poolesville, Md.; a menacing prison guard tower; a segregation-era railway car.

An airplane used by Tuskegee Airmen hangs above the last ramp, which ascends to a platform with a quotation from poet Langston Hughes: "I, too, am America."

The $540 million project was funded through a partnership with Congress, which provided $270 million. The other half of the money is being raised through private contributions; officials are within a few million dollars of that goal.

"It's going to be dramatic," says Yetter, stopping at the top of a ramp.

It already is.

Philip Kennicott contributed to this report.

Info: nmaahc.si.edu

Travel on 07/24/2016

Upcoming Events