After a morning of walking and sweating and learning, we were glad to spend the afternoon indoors exploring 2 of the world's best museums: the Smithsonian American History Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. A quick word about tickets. Everything in Washington DC is free! It amazed me all week that we could see these renowned places without paying anything! But right now everything in DC requires a timed entry ticket. This means months ago I did some major planning and lined up exactly what day and time we'd do each thing. The NMAAHC was especially hard to get into, it's so popular.
Our time at the American History Museum was admittedly short. My favorite items here were off exhibit (the Muppets, Mr. Roger's sweater, Indiana Jones' hat and whip, Dorothy's ruby slippers, etc.), preparing for a big, new entertainment exhibit opening in October. We just swung through the First Ladies exhibit, enjoying the free a/c and watching Delia come more to life over historical fashion than she had over any of the marble walls, bronze statues, and iconic speeches we saw all morning! This sparkly purple inauguration gown was her favorite.
Our last stop on this day was 2 hours at the African American History and Culture Museum. This was a new one to me and one I was most excited about. It did not disappoint! I was moved to tears here and found this so incredibly powerful. The museum walls are made of this beautiful, see-through, metal cage material. You start by going 3 floors underground in a glass elevator. On the black walls of the elevator shaft are written big, bold dates, so you really feel like you're moving back in time.
We immerged deep underground and in the 1400's where we learned about the origin of the slave trade. This was intense and emotional as we saw heartbreaking things, like the slave ship maps and the shackles made for children. Sobering here were descriptions of each major European country's role, framed on a wall that listed slave ship names, how many it carried, and how many it lost at sea. The Dutch made us proud during the Holocaust. Not so much during the slave trade.
We were confronted with the paradox of a nation fighting for its freedom while relying on enslaved people to build that new nation. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence words in this place, inscribed behind the mountain of bricks engraved with the names of his slaves, felt mocking.
We saw glimmers of hope as we climbed out of the dark basement of this museum and into Emancipation. This is Harriet Tubman's hymnal!
But then, even as slavery ended, we moved into the era of segregation and Jim Crow laws and "separate but equal", and bombings and lynchings. We saw "colored" drinking fountains, and divided train cars, and shards of stained glass from the 16th St. Baptist church, and ugly KKK robes. We climbed up though 2 more floors of persecution and prejudice, ending with the Civil Rights movement, Black Power, and ultimately, an exhibit on President Obama's election that had me unable to speak it hit so hard.
Once you have made it through 3 difficult underground levels, you are back at the ground level, which was this gigantic and glorious fountain room for contemplation, inscribed with famous quotes from Civil Rights leaders. This quote of scripture from Dr. King has always been one of my favorites.
We kept climbing and spent the above-ground floors learning about Black History in entertainment, music, and sports. This was awesome! Fun to see items like Louis Armstrong's trumpet, and MC Hammer's pants, and Carl Lewis' Olympic medals, and Michael Jordan's Gatorade commercial, and Mike Singletary's jersey.
At the very top level, as we ended our last staircase, I said something like, "That was a lot of steps!" and Dave replied, "I think that's the point." We started underground in the dark, walking past the wooden shards of an actual slave ship, and we ended in the sunlight, viewing the whole mall, and telling our girls about the Super Bowl Shuffle. It was quite the journey. I have thought about this experience every day since we had it. If you are planning a trip to DC, please put this museum on your must-see list! Just be sure to grab those tickets months in advance!
1 comment:
Very moving exhibit. A lot of planning and thought was put into this whole building. Again, a great experience for the girls to walk through.
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