African-American history museum opens
WASHINGTON: The first national museum devoted exclusively to the history and culture of AfricanAmericans is now open.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama opened the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall by ringing a bell from a historic African-American church.
The museum is the 19th and the newest of the Smithsonians.
The push for the museum began in 1915 with African-American Civil War veterans looking for a way to commemorate America’s black experience. Former President George W. Bush signed the law authorising the construction in 2003.
President Barack Obama says the new national African-American history museum helps tell a “richer and fuller” story of Americans.
Speaking at Saturday’s dedication ceremony, Obama says the museum will give people a better understanding of themselves by teaching them about others – slaves, the poor, black activists, teachers. He says knowing their stories will help Americans understand each other better.
Obama says African-American history isn’t separate from the larger American story, but is a central part of the American story.
President Barack Obama says the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture will be a way to tell the incredible story of blacks in the United States.
Obama praised the museum as a pure illustration of the historical contrasts in “the American story ... one of suffering and of delight, one of fear but also of hope.”
The new museum is located only steps away from the White House and the Washington Monument, which was dedicated to a slave holder president, George Washington. Museum officials say the new Smithsonian facility will chronicle the complex relationship between the US and a people it once enslaved and tell the story of those who worked to make the necessary changes to bring the country to where it is today.
Thousands are expected to gather on the National Mall on Saturday morning to watch the nation’s first black president cut the ribbon to open the museum.
Ground was broken for the new museum in 2012.