Smithsonian museum marks a decade of Black history

In Washington DC, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.

For years, people across the United States worked to establish the museum on the National Mall, with Congressman John Lewis and Senator Sam Brownback securing a bill signed by President George W. Bush in 2003. Founding director Lonnie G.

Bunch III and his team envisioned a space that would chronicle Black life in America, collecting artifacts from slave ship remnants to personal items belonging to Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist who helped enslaved people escape to freedom. The museum opened in 2016 with a staff of around 200, and quickly became a place for intergenerational connection.

Visitors like Elizabeth Beckett connected with their family history through exhibits, discovering details about her grandfather’s work as a Pullman porter, one of the Black men who served passengers on luxury trains and built a middle class for their families. Curator Mary Elliott emphasized the importance of recognizing these porters as community leaders, and highlighted a pump organ owned by one as a symbol of their collective identity.

The museum’s collection also includes poignant reminders of hardship, like the casket of Emmett Till, a teenager murdered in 1955, and a guard tower from Angola prison. Museum leaders carefully considered how to display such difficult objects with respect. Donations from celebrities and average citizens alike helped build the collection, and visitors continue to find personal meaning in the exhibits, reflecting on the resilience and contributions of African Americans throughout history.