A Century In The Making!!!

  National Museum of 
African American History and Culture

It's Finally Here, the long awaited NMAAHC on the National Mall in Washington D.C. 

The sunsets on the National Mall

To Celebrate  Black History Month , we're sharing our visit to the Museum!

Our visit came just 4 weeks after the opening, I was more than excited to enter the NMAAHC, finally a history museum all people can visit and learn the history and struggle of African Americans.  First proposed in 1915 over a century in the making.  The timing couldn't have been better,  as the first African American President prepared to leave office dedicated this gem. The building resembles a Yoruban Crown with 36,000 bronze-colored cast aluminum panels and sits across the street from the Washington Monument.

The most convenient  parking we found was the Ronald Reagan Building. There is no reentry unless you pay again. The $25 fee was well worth it as it was a  short walk across the street.

Admission to the Museum is free although reservations in advance are required for a timed entry ticket. On March 1st you can request up to 6 passes for a visit in June 2017. Passes are released monthly. Group and family passes can be requested up to a year if you plan on visiting with 10 or more. You can plan your family vacation to the D.C. area knowing you will visit the museum.  Those whom ancestors were a part of history in any way should visit at least once.  Another way is to show up during the week and be one of the first to secure a timed entry pass.  Get there early because tickets go fast. No walk up passes are offered on weekends. One million people have visited the museum since it opened in September 2016.

As we entered the museum, I just stood there looking at my mother as she looked around and saw what her donations over the years helped build.  Someplace she wanted her grandchildren and future generations to see. The architecture is stunning and I wanted to see every bit of it.

 Depending on your timed visit, you'll need a full day or more to explore.  We entered around 12 noon, started and tried to see as much as we could.  

The elevator takes you down 70 feet below to the basement which takes you back in time. As the elevator goes down so does the years on its walls. The galleries started with the slave trade and ends with Barack Obama our first African American President.  The top three floors are the achievements of Black Americans in Music, Film, Visual Arts, Military and "my favorite" Sports etc...

We started in the basement which is the best place to start the tour. I began to have a sick feeling as it really got to me, it actually angered me as I toured.  Millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homeland and thousands ended up here in North America.

A statue of Clara Brown sits in front of a slave cabin. After Clara was freed from slavery she moved to Colorado where she settled and helped others to settle there also.

The struggle continued for African Americans after the civil war during the Jim Crow era to separate but equal.  This reminded me of a road trip I took with my dad , I was hungry and we stopped in a small Georgia town to eat.  As we entered the restaurant they looked at my dad and told him we need to go to the back because  Negros weren't served in the front restaurant.  I'll never forget my dad's response, "My money isn't going in the back, you're going to put it in that same register". I was so proud of my dad and he was forever my hero from that moment on.  He grabbed my hand and we left.  All types of memories were in my head while I was touring the museum. 
Photos of lynchings and other disturbing content do have warning signs if you see them.

21 foot tall concrete prison tower from Louisiana's Angola prison ( Louisiana State Penitentiary)  which was built atop a former plantation. It's one of the largest in the country, most of the imates are African Americans serving life sentences according to the museum.

The dress Rosa Parks was making/wearing just before she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus.

44 Seat segregation-era Southern Railway car that had separate seating areas for whites and colored passengers which paid the same fare.

These signs were common in the south.

A slave cabin from about 1853 was in Edisto, South Carolina

One of the planes flown by the Tuskegee Airman

Wood burning stove and desks used in the Hope School era 1925-1954

Shawl and hymn book given to Harriett Tubman from Queen Victoria in 1897 in recognition of her work in helping slaves escape.

There is so much on display

The Black Military Men and Women

After a couple of hours we decided it was time to try the Sweet Home Cafe, a cultural restaurant on the premises.  We arrived just before the lines wrapped around.  There were four major areas to choose from, The Creole Coast, North States, Agricultural South and The Western Range.  The food was great and well represented!

Oxtails from The Creole Coast

Skillet Cornbread

Sweet Potato Pie

Lots of room to enjoy your meal

As you wind around the ramps you begin to see the progress African Americans have made and start to feel better, but never forgetting the struggle.  They have seats to sit and gather your thoughts and feelings before continuing your tour.  These are much needed.  This museum will uplift you and upset you at the same time. From movies to television shows , everything is documented here. 

I met Shirley Chisholm on my 16th Birthday, the best birthday gift ever!

Oprah's first Talk ShowTV set

The Black Power Salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City as the National Anthem was played. 

Chuck Berry's Red Cadillac 

The Mother Ship is on display

The Williams Sisters are the best tennis players in the world, they were taught by their parents.

Representing the 2000s as the movement continues with
 "Black Lives Matter"and "Justice for Trayvon"

With the election of the Nation's first black President things seem to be going in the right direction.

The Museum is just refreshing everywhere you look!

The sunsets on the National Museum of African American History and Culture and it's golden!

 We've come along way, far from the 1400s. It still doesn't stop the tears at times that fall on my cheeks as I think about what my own relatives had to endure.  
There are so many donors and/or donations to this great museum,  I can't thank them enough.  
 I thank my ancestors for never giving up and having the strength to continue even when it seemed like it was no way out! I wish my dad could see the museum but then I remembered he lived it!

National Museum of 

African American History and Culture

14th St and Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20001

Tel: (202) 633-1000