National African American museum opens in racially-charged US

[rooster59]

National African American museum opens in racially-charged US

 

 

It is the latest attraction on Washington’s National Mall, known as “America’s Front Yard”.

 

And with racial tensions high in the United States, the new National Museum of African American History and Culture opens on Saturday, at a critical time.

 

The trials and tribulations of the African American experience are told as well as the community’s contribution to life in the US in exhibitions designed to resonate with everyone.

 

“This is not a story of black people by black people but rather this says the way to think about America is through the lens of this community,” the museum’s founding director, Lonnie Bunch, told euronews.

 

“So if you want to understand American notions of optimism, resilience and equality, it is tied to this community. So, in essence, the message is: this is your story regardless of who you are.”

 

The 36,000 items in the collection range from trade goods used to buy slaves in Africa to a segregated railway car from the 1920s, a red Cadillac convertible belonging to rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry and dance shoes worn by Sammy Davis Jr.

 

Other displays at the $540 million museum include a slave cabin from South Carolina, a robe used by boxing great Muhammad Ali and the coffin of Emmett Till, whose 1955 murder in Mississippi helped galvanise the civil rights movement.

 

Years in the making, it opens as African Americans continue to face challenges.

 

“We are at a time in America where race matters again. Race divides us. This is a place that can help…help us find true opportunities to discuss and maybe to find some reconciliation,” Bunch said.

 

That view is shared by President Barack Obama whose presence at Saturday’s opening, as the first black US president, is a strong symbol. He has already spoken about the importance of the museum, in the light of recent protests over police shootings of unarmed black men.

 

Black Civil War veterans first proposed an African-American museum in 1915. Congress approved its creation in 2003, and construction of the bronze-coloured building took almost four years.

 

It is now being billed as the only national US museum devoted exclusively to documenting African American life, history, and culture.

 

Euronews correspondent Stefan Grobe said: “The creators want the museum to be a place where all US citizens can learn about the African American experience and what it means to their lives. Yet, the most recent police shootings of unarmed black men just add another chapter to that experience, one too fresh to be showcased.”

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-09-25

[crankshaft]

What would happen if a White History Museum was even contemplated to be built....

[jaidam]

Chuck Berrys red cadillac sounds ok but i would love to check out the surveillance equipment he used(and was arrested for) in the womans dunny in the restaurant he owned. 

 

 

[lungbing]

Perhaps if all those "African Americans" (most of whom couldn't point to Africa on a map) became just "Americans"  then they would integrate better.

[Jingthing]

What would happen if a White History Museum was even contemplated to be built....

You're joking right? Like basically all the existing D.C. museums are white dominated.

This new place looks great. Seems worth a special visit. Also amazing architecture.

[Credo]

2 hours ago, lungbing said:

Perhaps if all those "African Americans" (most of whom couldn't point to Africa on a map) became just "Americans"  then they would integrate better.

Most of them consider themselves to be 'just Americans', it's the other races which have decided they are not 'just American.'

[Jingthing]

34 minutes ago, Credo said:

Most of them consider themselves to be 'just Americans', it's the other races which have decided they are not 'just American.'

Fuhgedaboudit!

 

 

 

[Johpa]

6 hours ago, crankshaft said:

What would happen if a White History Museum was even contemplated to be built....

 

It has been built, it is named "The Smithsonian".

[Scotwight]

1 hour ago, Credo said:

Most of them consider themselves to be 'just Americans', it's the other races which have decided they are not 'just American.'

Jewish Museums in the USA.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/jewish-museums-in-united-states

TOP 5 NATIVE AMERICAN MUSEUMS IN THE UNITED STATES

https://www.1tribal.com/2014/08/top-5-native-american-museums/

Japan American Museum

http://www.janm.org

 

 

[ClutchClark]

$500,000,000.

 

Half a billion dollars of tax dollars to build ths museum and the only way you will get most of the African-American community to attend is if you hold a free Rap concert.

 

Hopefully school field trips will expose kids to the amuseum.

 

I am hopeful for the day that blacks move forward and quit thinking of themselves as victims of slavery. Heck, maybe it will even cut down on the number of Chicago murders.

[Ulysses G.]

56 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

 

I am hopeful for the day that blacks move forward and quit thinking of themselves as victims of slavery. Heck, maybe it will even cut down on the number of Chicago murders.

 

Some blacks. Since returning to the US, I have been happily surprised at how many blacks are well educated, conservative and determined to put all that behind them. They get exasperated with that kind of thinking.

[Opl]

Michelle Obama's Thank you hug to G.W Bush ( who gave a "green light go" to the project in 2003)

 

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP/SIPA