Next stop? The African American Museum!

By: Joselyn Valerio

If you think that you have a set understanding of the African American history, then I recommend you to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. This museum recently opened , and I was able to visit this museum on my visit to Washington D,C,. If you think that this is one of those typical museums that don’t appeal to you, it is not.

This museum is based chronologically, which makes it amazing. The way this museum begins is from the last floor. Yes, you are guided to the last floor because that is where you must start in order to understand. As you reach the last floor, you will see a whole floor dedicated to slavery. In this section you can distinguish how Africans are being traded in slavery.  As you start progressing throughout the museum you start learning the African American history, such as African Americans during Great Britain’s rule, Civil War, Reconstruction Era, The Great Depression, Civil Rights Movement, and  Black Lives Matter and having a black president.

The museum is rich in information, which is why it is recommended to visit. It is detailed in every possible way. The richness of both the information and the items on display bring an emotional appeal.

As you progress throughout the museum, you see all the things white people would say and would write saying that blacks are savages and so on, and you see a whole aisle on the signs for segregation during the Jim Crow Era. Towards the modern day floor is where most of the emotional connection occurs. This is where you see Obama becoming president, first African American oscar winners, Oprah, and so on. Not only that, you also see how African Americans till this day are still treated with injustice such as with the Black Lives Matter movement; some group of white girls began crying when they saw the clip of this.

Overall, I would give this museum a 5/5 rating because of its sequence and its enrichment in information. I definitely recommend visiting this museum.