National Museum of African American History

The National Museum of African American History is the newest museum of the Smithsonian and required a time-slot ticket that we purchased on the internet. We got there at 10:30 when things were relatively quiet, but the museum still was crowded. The history begins with Africa in the 1600’s when trade with Europe was just beginning. Some of that trade was in slaves, especially with Great Britain, France, Portugal, and the Dutch who were the major seafarers of the time. 

Slave Trading Routes

Slaves were used as laborers throughout the New World, primarily to grow rice, tobacco, and sugar cane. Cotton did not become much of a crop until the invention of the cotton gin in the late 1700’s. The exhibits emphasized the terrible journey across the Atlantic Ocean as well as the slave trading in the U.S., especially after the importation of slaves was banned. The cruelty of parents and children being separated was emphasized. Periodically, throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries there were race incidents (riots), but none of these led to any improvement. In Congress throughout the first of the 19^th century, slavery was the key issue between the North and South. The museum emphasizes the key black leaders who tried to end slavery, names like Frederick Douglas, Dred Scott, Margaret Tubman, and many others that we’re just starting to learn about. During the Civil War, many blacks crossed Union lines to gain “freedom”, but they were treated as property of war until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. At that time, Lincoln allowed the creation of black battalions, but they only received half the pay of white soldiers. The museum goes on to explain the Reconstruction period, where blacks gained state and federal office. From there we started speeding up our visit because it covered many of the times and events we had viewed in the International Civil Rights Museum. The Historical part of the museum also covered how black artists, musicians, actors, and sports stars slowly changed our perceptions of blacks away from the typical stereotypes in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. The 60’s and 70’s were the years of protests, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, Black power, etc.  Finally, it covered the 80’s to the 2000’s as blacks appeared in movies, TV shows, and advertisements. 

Blacks are seen on TV

The election of Obama as the first black president is the current end of the story. There are other sections to this museum which we didn’t cover, but we spent 3 ½ hours viewing this history section. We really appreciated the short videos produced by the Smithsonian channel and regretted the fact that there were very few benches or chairs to rest our legs.

We finalized our visit to Washington with taking the Mall Circulator just to view something other than the Smithsonian. We didn’t have the energy to walk anymore, but we saw the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the White House and Congress from the bus.  Great way to get around the mall at only $1 per ride.