President Obama, the nation’s first black president, has finally made the groundbreaking decision to open a museum on the National Mall to commemorate and honor the enormous impact African Americans have had on United States’ history and culture.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is set to be the Smithsonian’s 19th museum. Construction, which is underway, is expected to last three years and be completed in 2015. The museum’s five-acre site is to be located next to the Washington Monument at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W.
The cost of the museum is set to be around $500 million dollars, and is receiving funds from both Congress and funds raised by the museum itself.
(Photo credit: http://nmaahc.si.edu/)
According to the Smithsonian’s website, the NMAAHC will be a place where Americans can go to learn about how the African Americans lives have helped shape the nation and bring it to where it is today.
“I think it’s really important for African American history to have it’s own place where people can really see how much of an impact their culture and history has had on our country,” Liv Zurek, sophomore marketing and philosophy major, said.
The Smithsonian currently has an African American gallery on the second floor of the Natural History Museum, but never before have they opened a museum completely dedicated to African Americans and their history.
(Photo credit: http://nmaahc.si.edu/)
The museum is to be 380,000 square feet and incorporate design elements that will bring the African American experience in America to life.
“I think there are a lot of things people don’t know about African American history,” Alex Eggie, sophomore economics major, said. “With this museum, there is a much greater opportunity for students to find out more.”
Dr. Melinda Chateauvert, assistant professor of the African American Studies Department who completed her pre-doctoral at the Smithsonian, said she thinks it will be important for the museum to take the visitor through an experience in which they can engage all of their senses – especially sight and sound.
The NMAAHC is to have 25,000 different collections of African American objects and articles that range from the beginning of its origins in Africa all the way up until the 21st century. The museum will focus on the major periods within this time frame – such as Reconstruction, slavery, and the Civil Rights era.
“There are so many artifacts in terms of African American history that people don’t even know about,” said Dr. Chateauvert. “There are so many different stories that we don’t know.”
The NMAAHC, according to President Obama’s speech at a ceremony for the museum on Feb. 22, “will give us a way to ensure that America understands the African American experience as a history that has shaped us all.”