In my personal experience, I rejoiced at this point of the exhibit. I felt as Because beyond the historical section
though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, one not just informed of the museum the visitor is elevated
by the confinement of space but also by the harsh and unforgiving into uplifting exhibit areas that
realities of my country’s history, those made especially tangible by the vibrantly celebrate black culture: the
museography resources. But the opening of space does not actually byproduct of customs, art, sports, and
lift the metaphorical weight; immediately visitors are drawn back into intellectual achievement developing
the complication of the nation’s founding, one that posits a “paradox in conversation with African American
of liberty.” This phrase illuminates the grand hall where Thomas history. The museum insists that
Jefferson’s statue is contrasted by a pyramid pile of over one hundred black culture must be understood as
bricks, which each contain the name of a slave that he owned. That a materialization of black experience,
the seminal Founding Father of the United States owned people while and above all, the essential means of
heralding in the first free nation in modern human existence elucidates “establishing a place in this society.”
the contradiction of the declaration that “all men are created equal.” Muhammed Ali’s boxing headgear,
Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, James
Therefore, throughout the rest of the historical section, the museum Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time,”
conveys that the great titans in African-American history were those Oprah Winfrey’s audience chairs,
who navigated ways of broadening the scope of equality, and most and a gown from First Lady Michelle
importantly, broadening the path for others to follow their lead. In Obama’s fashion repertoire represent
accordance with this concept, the museum design invites visitors to just a sample of the museum’s
walk around the Jefferson statue in order to achieve a new point of view: collection that serve as timeless
one that includes a multitude of other bronze statues memorializing symbols, which help articulate black
black heroes, like Phillis Wheatley, the first published African-American experience and simultaneously inform
woman poet, and Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian a great bulk of American culture.
Revolution.
Schoolchildren take a rest in the “Contemplative
Court,” a space specifically designed for
reflection | Zina Precht-Rodíguez
This restructuring of perspective is
A view of the Washington Monument from inside
the Culture Section | Zina Precht-Rodíguez
Perhaps the most humbling point of the visit is the departure from
necessitated throughout the visitors’ the building. Visitors walk out of the bronze building, a dense hub of
elevation into the historical periods information and artifacts, to find themselves at the cross section of
of the Reconstruction and civil-rights two white structures: the Washington Monument and the National
movement in order to set the stage Museum of American History. And the reciprocity between all three
for the museum’s seminal takeaway, structures is clear as day; without the slaves, there would be no labor to
that “African American history is the build memorials like the Monument, and without black soldiers, there
quintessential American history, [one] would be no Republic to celebrate. So though American citizens inherit a
of making a way out of no way, of troubled history, the NMAAHC testifies that we must constantly revisit
mustering the nimbleness, ingenuity histories, to shift perspectives and modes of thinking, and above all,
and perseverance to establish a place uncover truths to help navigate paths towards solidarity. The waiting
in this society.” Perseverance, above lines that boast hundreds of visitors since the museum’s opening only
all, is tested in the average visitor; just show promising signs.
as the visitor must physically muster
the energy to walk through time, they
must also process so much content
spreading almost 400,000 square feet
that the museum actually advises that
the entirety of the complex be explored
in multiple visits.
Observing Memories
ISSUE 1
52
Observing Memories
ISSUE 1
53