Reflection On The National Museum Of African American History And Culture

Improved Essays
Among the Greco-Roman marble buildings on the National Mall stands a unique building. Three bronze pyramidal tiers rise from the base, and tour over museumgoers. The distinctive architecture of the National Museum of African American History and Culture is inspired by the three-tiered crown motif portrayed in Yoruban art. Within the museum, artifacts are displayed over five floors of galleries. The exhibits are placed in chronological order, the basement addressing the early beginnings of the African slave trade and the second floor, which concludes the history section, addressing the black lives matter movement. Departing from the chronological narrative, the third and fourth floors are dedicated to the achievements of black people in America. …show more content…
While many historians may refer to it as a branch of American history, it is better described as the roots of this country’s past. Therefore, when I initially heard about the opening of a National Museum of African American History and Culture, I expected a comprehensive history of African Americans beginning from the first Africans to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 and ending with the present condition of black people in the nation. However, I also anticipated that there would be mention of white oppression and white supremacy throughout history. To understand the triumph of African Americans one must know their oppressor. Beyond the specific history the museum is dedicated to, I had basic expectations that are applied to every museum. To be a successful museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture would have to satisfy the following questions: Is it educational in a ê3ay the general public can comprehend? Are the artifacts being used to portray a story? Does it have any entertainment …show more content…
Its faults rest in what it neglects to address. The most evident flaw is the name of the museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The term African-American is not inclusive to black people in America who do not come from Africa, and instead come from places like Jamaica. Like white people, there are millions of places in the world black people come from. The name completely disregards the black people originally from the Caribbean who were taken into slavery. Another, probably more common, complaint about the museum is they way it glazes over white oppression. While it emphasizes the persistence of black people in America to preserver under oppression, it does not address where this oppression came from. The only image of white oppression was the single display of a KKK robe. Very little is said when it comes to the role of the government or the general white public at large oppressing African-Americans. This is most likely due to the fact that the government, which is predominantly white, funds the Smithsonian and that the Smithsonian is a reflection of the government. Also, many of the largest donors to the museum are white, and whoever finances the museum has the ability to dictate what stories are told and what are not. As time passes, hopefully the National Museum of African American History and Culture will

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    James B. Stewart essay “The Field and Functions of Black Studies” focus primarily on explaining the mandate of W.E.B. DuBois. The first thing we need to understand is that historically we appear to be repeating history, rather than making new strides in it. The obstacles that African Americans face today are different, however, the results are the same. Black Studies are truly not understood or effectively being taught if you are not attending an HBCU. W.E.B. DuBois (1933) said “…[S]tarting with present conditions and using the facts and the knowledge of the present situation of American Negroes, the Negro university expands toward the possession and the conquest of all knowledge.”…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the course of the years that African American Studies has been a separate functioning entity, there have been different ideological and political reasons for why African American studies are needed in institutions of higher education. Scholars such as Nathan Hare, John Henrik Clark, John W. Blassingame and Devere E. Pentony have given their own varied rationales as to why they believe African American Studies is a necessity within these institutions; if it is even one at all. Each of these men have different opinions on this topic but they do share one similar perspective. The historical importance of black people should be taught and made a fundamental component of African American Studies because in institutions of higher education,…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beginning in the seventeenth century, the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia to aid in the production of profitable crops is where a soon to be flourishing slave trade witnesses Africans being snatched and carried to America in bondage, separating them from their families, leaving them with no sense of familiarity. Although, unfortunate, out of this state of anguish and distress came the development of a new culture. Vast generations of Africans turned African-Americans over time advanced as a rich culture infused with music. African Americans were viewed as inferior and unequal for centuries as White Americans went through great bounds to keep blacks separated from their world. Despite the…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    I will share how this experience reminded me of the nuances of the African American culture and the resulting awareness I acquired. I will express how this awareness…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Furthermore, people of color who reject Africa are also rejecting themselves without realizing it due to the fact that generations of ancestors commenced in Africa. From education, minorities will learn that majority of the African American experience and culture progressed outside of American society. Researching African history will give an individual a deeper understanding of the many milestones that occurred in previous time. For minorities, it will be essential to know how diverse societies have added to society along with the relationship between past and present. History will indicate how various African Americans have contributed throughout the years in different ways, including the commitments that may go…

    • 1115 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stripped From Dignity Much of America’s current society is unaware of the cruelty era that American ancestors walked upon. It is to no surprise that African Americans have been discriminated for centuries and it wasn’t till recent years that their enslavement was abolished. Yet little did we know of the inhumanity conditions that they overcame. It wasn’t until historians dug up the muddy truth that we Americans can know value and honor those slaves who gave us their living story inside the American nightmare.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The African Burial Ground also known as the “Negroes Burial Ground,” is home to more than 400 plus remains of freed and enslaved African-Americans. In 1991, a building projected unearthed the remains of these Africans beneath a parking lot just two blocks north of New York’s City Hall, bringing the colonials city’s lost African Burial Ground to the attention of the World [1]. Once the site was discovered and announced to the public, African leaders made their presence known by bring the excavation to halt and eventually taking it over. They felt as if the archeologist assigned to this excavation were to be of African descent. Only blacks would appreciate and be delicate when uncovering these grave sites, they would cherish the moments as they…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Museum Report The Tangipahoa African American Heritage Museum and Veterans Archives was established in February 2007. The Tangipahoa African American Heritage Museum and Veterans Archives is comprised of African American murals, artifacts, photographs and art work that tell the African American story. The museum is also one of the largest in the south with over eight galleries that consist of over 20 original murals, original art and artifacts all from African American inventors and artist. The museum housed some of the most famous African American pioneers and war heros such as the Buffalo soldiers also known as the Negro Calvary the name buffalo soldiers was given to the African American soldiers for many different reasons, “one, it is said…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    African Burial Ground

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages

    To understand how the African Burial Ground (ABG) became a national monument today, one must examine the process and implications through which the African Burial Ground was established. This includes a recalling of the history of slavery in American and more important in New York from 1626-1827. The African Burial Ground gives us the opportunity to explore America’s past, it also gives us the chance to understand how a site about ideas, values, and significance has transform over time. Creating an area to commemorate people and groups such as the African Burial Ground, leads to the issue of significance and controversy emerges within the community. Throughout time, we notice how the past of the institution of slavery becomes the future and…

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hbcu Research Paper

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has played an essential role in America. Being one of the only institutions of higher learning where African Americans could receive a quality education free from discrimination as well as space for community organization, HBCUs has been an important cultural resource in the African American community. To add, HBCUs have produce many prominent African Americans who have made great contributions to American society. Historic figures such Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Booker T. Washington as well as current figures like Oprah Winfrey, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Elijah Cummings and Vernon Jordan were all educated at HBCU’s. Because of its rich cultural legacy within the black community and for…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In order to complete this assignment, I visited the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture located on Pratt Street in Baltimore, Maryland. As noted by the museum’s name, the focus of the collections were on the experiences of African American people. I visited the permanent collection, which consists of exhibits about slavery, segregation, education, sports, music, performing arts, politics, community, and social adaptions. In addition to the permanent collection, I also visited the temporary exhibit titled “Sons” which held a series of photographs of African American men, each with a question that addresses the social stigma that they face. My brief interview was with a lovely woman who works at the front…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why is it important to document hidden histories? Before viewing Slavery by Another Name (2012), I was not fully aware of the atrocities committed against African Americans after slavery had been abolished. I knew that newly freed slaves had a hard time adjusting to freedom, but I never fathomed the oppression and torment they were subjected to as free Americans. My history classes throughout my education never included information regarding involuntary servitude and laws that were created to deliberately re-enslave African Americans and prevent them from having mobility.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    African Americans have had a long and burdened history in the United States, beginning with the institution of slavery and continuing on to the widespread racial injustice that they persevered and still endure today. As we look deep into the historical backdrop of America we cannot deny that African Americans have had a profound effect on the character of the United States of America. They helped to change the face of not just America, but of themselves. They called out for liberty and equality wherever the opportunity had arisen; battling ardently for the proclaimed equality that the Declaration of Independence decreed. This fight has been going on even before the U.S. was formed, through violent and bloody slave revolts to passionate and…

    • 1303 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    President Abraham Lincoln flirtation with African- American Civil Rights, John Wilkes Booths undying love for the confederacy, and the ultimate fall of the Confederate army. Independently, each of these points hold little weight of importance, but together these three points created a fire storm lasting close to six years, costing more than 620,000 Americans lives, and two faiths’ that will ultimately be entwined with each in the history book. A collision of two people that will be forever attach with each other in the history book a faith where you can’t talk about one without talking about the other. In this essay, we will discuss each of these points; Booth passion toward the Confederacy, the fall of the Confederate army, and Lincoln wanting…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Even after the Civil War, in which all African-Americans no longer were deemed as slaves, the life of the black person did not get easier. For generations, the struggle to come out of impoverished lifestyles had been deemed as almost impossible. Faced by segregation, no equal rights, and the KKK, the newly freed African-Americans were not able to completely submerge themselves to “freedom”. Little by little, new opportunities emerged; however, the depths of acrimony and pain prevented blacks to completely embrace them. Those who fought for the chance to make history, emerged successful, but those who let the past hold them back, continued to live in the restrictions of the past.…

    • 1992 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays