111-year-old black veteran gets African-American museum tour

African American history museum to offer 'Walk Up Wednesdays' in April

Learn more about the Walk Up Wednesdays here: https://nmaahc.si.edu/walk-wednesdays-april

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has been one of the hottest tickets in Washington, D.C. for museum-goers.

Since opening in September 2016, it has welcomed more than 3.5 million visitors.

It’s been so popular that timed-entry passes have to be reserved two months in advance.

But every Wednesday in April, the museum will let people who walk up enter the museum on a first-come, first-served basis without the pass that other visitors need to enter.

“Walk-Up Wednesdays in April will help us to determine how to manage visitor demand,” said Lonnie Bunch III, the museum’s founding director. “We are honored and humbled to have struck such a chord with our visitors… We don’t want to disappoint our visitors by reaching capacity and having them wait in long lines for space to become available inside the galleries.”

What the museum is experimenting with in the Walk Up Wednesday trial run is allowing visitors to show up without a reservation or a pass starting at 10 a.m. on every Wednesday of April. No same day walk-up passes will be made available online at 6:30 a.m. on those Wednesdays.

In other words, for the month of April, if you want to get into the museum without a pass, you can do so by just showing up after 10 a.m. and waiting in line.

On average, visitors stay 4 ½ hours on weekdays, Bunch said. The museum has tried to balance not forcing people to rush out while also letting new visitors enter.

“The goal of this pilot program is to provide greater access for the public while maintaining the safety and security of our visitors.,” Bunch said.

Those with timed-entry passes that were reserved ahead of time will still get priority access. And groups of 10 or more will have to go by the usual rules.

[SOURCE: USA TODAY]

NAACP DENOUNCES RECENT WAVE OF VANDALISM AGAINST AFRICAN-AMERICANS

The NAACP issued the following statement after a noose was found Wednesday, May 31, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. and after NBA star LeBron James’ house in Los Angeles, California was defaced with the N-word.

“We are deeply troubled and disturbed by the heinous acts of racism that occurred on Wednesday,” said Leon Russell, Board Chairman of the NAACP. “Leaving a noose – a symbol and weapon of hate – in front of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture and vandalizing the home of NBA superstar LeBron James, underscore the recent increase in hate crimes committed against African-Americans under the Trump Administration. The NAACP will not sit by idly while our people continue to be assailed by racist and cowardly actions. Furthermore, we call on the Trump Administration to stand up and speak out against these attacks.”

“Atrocious acts like those committed on Wednesday demonstrate the divisive animus that is pervasive throughout our country. The NAACP stands with the Smithsonian and with Mr. James and is wholly committed, now more than ever, to protecting equal rights of all persons and to eliminating race-based discrimination in the United States. We will not be deterred,” said Derrick Johnson, Vice Chairman of the NAACP.

LONNIE BUNCH III TO RECEIVE PRESIDENT’S AWARD AT NAACP IMAGE AWARDS

Lonnie Bunch III, the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will be honored at the NAACP Image Awards.

The NAACP announced today that historian, author, curator and educator, Lonnie G. Bunch, III will be presented with the NAACP “President’s Award” at the 48th NAACP Image Awards telecast LIVE from 9-11 p.m. ET on February 11 on TV One.

The NAACP “President’s Award,” chosen by NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks, is bestowed in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service.  Past honorees include John Legend, Van Jones, President Bill Clinton, Soledad O’Brien, Ruby Dee, Muhammad Ali, the Founding Members of the Black Stuntmen’s Association, Kerry Washington, and Spike Lee.

“Historian, scholar and author Lonnie G. Bunch III, has secured among the sacred places of the American story, a place of honor for the contributions of African Americans to our nation’s history. As the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), he has helped to amplify stories of our struggles and striving to wrest the shackles of oppression from both body and mind in our undeniable quest to be free,” said Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO, NAACP.

“Dr. Bunch’s relentless work to shine a magnificent light into the incredible American prism of the Black experience from enslaved plantations to the White House mansion, has earned him this year’s NAACP President’s Award. The award bears the name of the NAACP but is invisibly inscribed with the names of Americans of every hue and heritage representing the gratitude of the nation for Dr. Bunch’s efforts.”

Lonnie G. Bunch, III is the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.  In this position he is working to set the museum’s mission, coordinate its fundraising and membership campaigns, develop its collections, and establish cultural partnerships.  He is designing a high-profile program of traveling exhibitions and public events ranging from panel discussions and seminars to oral history and collecting workshops.

Prior to his July 2005 appointment as director of NMAAHC, Bunch served as the president of the Chicago Historical Society, one of the nation’s oldest museums of history (January 2001-June 2005).  There, he initiated an unprecedented outreach initiative to diverse communities and launched a much-applauded exhibition and program on teenage life titled “Teen Chicago.”  He also led a successful capital campaign to transform the institution in celebration of its 150th anniversary and managed an institutional reorganization.

Bunch has held several positions at the Smithsonian.  As the National Museum of American History’s (NMAH) Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs (1994-2000), he oversaw the curatorial and collections management staff of nearly 200.  In addition to leading the curatorial team that developed the major permanent exhibition “American Presidency: A Glorious Burden,” he served as co-author of the exhibition’s companion book by the same name.

While assistant director for curatorial affairs at NMAH (1992-1994), Bunch developed “Smithsonian’s America,” an exhibition that explored the history, culture and diversity of the United States; it was shown in Tokyo, Japan as part of the “American Festival Japan ’94.  He also supervised the planning and implementation of the museum’s research and collection agendas.  As a supervising curator at NMAH (1989-1992), he oversaw several of the museum’s divisions, including Community Life and Political History.

From 1978 to 1979, Bunch was an education specialist and historian at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where he developed multi-cultural instructional programs and researched and wrote the history of African Americans in aviation.

Bunch served as the curator of history for the California Afro-American Museum in Los Angeles from 1983 to 1989.  There he organized several award-winning exhibitions including “The Black Olympians, 1904-1950” and “Black Angelenos: The Afro-American in Los Angeles, 1850-1950.”  Committed to making history accessible, he also produced several historical documentaries for public television.

A prolific and widely published author, Bunch has written on topics ranging from slavery, the black military experience, the American presidency and all black towns in the American west to diversity in museum management and the impact of funding and politics on American museums. In 2010, he published the award-winning book “Call the Lost Dream Back: Essays on Race, History and Museums.” “Slave Culture: A Documentary Collection of the Slave Narratives” was published in 2014 and in 2015 he published “Memories of the Enslaved: Voices from the Slave Narratives.”  In 2016, Bunch co-authored “From No Return: the 221-Year Journey of the Slave Ship Sao Jose.”  Lectures and presentations to museum professionals and scholars have taken him to major cities in the United States and to many nations abroad including Australia, China, England, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Ghana, Senegal and Cuba.  Since 2008, Bunch has served as the series co-editor of the “New Public Scholarship Edition” of the University of Michigan Press.  During the inaugurations of President Barack Obama, Bunch served as an on-camera commentator for ABC News.

In service to the historical and cultural community, Bunch has served on the advisory boards of the American Association of Museums, the African American Association of Museums, the American Association of State and Local History, and the ICOM-US. Among his many awards, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Commission for the Preservation of the White House in 2002 and reappointed by President Barack Obama in 2009. In 2005, Bunch was named one of the 100 most influential museum professionals in the 20th century by the American Association of Museums and in 2009, Ebony Magazine named him one of its 150 most influential African Americans.  Again, in 2016 he was chosen as one of the 100 most significant African Americans by Ebony Magazine.  In 2011, BET (Black Entertainment Television) selected Bunch to receive its BET Honors for outstanding service to American education.  In 2014, BET selected Bunch as one of its ICON Men for his work mentoring young African American men.  In recent years, Bunch has been honored with: Visionary History Award, DC Historical Society (2016), Rainbow Push Torchbearer Award (2016), Delta Sigma Theta Remembering Our Heritage Award (2016), and National Newspaper Publishers Association Torch Award (2016).  In 2016, Bunch was listed as #1 in the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100 ratings and in Vanity Fair’s Hall of Fame.

For additional information and the latest news, please visit the official NAACP Image Awards website at http://www.naacpimageawards.net.

Check out the National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Souvenir Book

While I'm sure many of us have future plans to go to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, our very busy lives and or finances could delay or stop that trip entirely. That doesn't mean that we can't get a look at the museum in the meantime through it's souvenir book.

SYNOPSIS: National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Souvenir Book

This souvenir book showcases some of the most influential and important treasures of the National Museum of African American History and Culture's collections. These include a hymn book owned by Harriet Tubman; ankle shackles used to restrain enslaved people on ships during the Middle Passage; a dress that Rosa Parks was making shortly before she was arrested; a vintage, open-cockpit Tuskegee Airmen trainer plane; Muhammad Ali's headgear; an 1835 Bill of Sale enslaving a young girl named Polly; and Chuck Berry's Cadillac. These objects tell us the full story of African American history, of triumphs and tragedies and highs and lows. This book, like the museum it represents, uses artifacts of African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American.

CHECK OUT THE BOOK

Clarence Thomas was not snubbed by the National Museum of African American History & Culture

By George L. Cook III African American Reports.

Many conservative websites have locked onto this narrative that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has somehow been snubbed by not being included at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Now according to these sites we should all be outraged by this and demand that Thomas be included in the museum. They would have everyone believe that Thomas was not included because of his conservative beliefs and that most black people simply don't like the man (Okay that last part is true, but not why he wasn't included). But there are a few things they fail to mention.

Clarence Thomas is not the first black Supreme Court Justice, that would be the legend, Thurgood Marshall. So other than making it to the bench what has Thomas done to deserve an exhibit at the museum? He is considered a mediocre jurist at best and it's big news when the man ask a question during a hearing. You don't get an exhibit for being a bump on a log.

What's also not mentioned is that Thurgood Marshall is in the museum but not as a Supreme Court justice but for his work in civil rights. The museum does not currently have an exhibit on the Supreme Court.

Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution, made this statement about Thomas’ exclusion:

“There are many compelling personal stories about African-Americans who have become successful in various fields, and obviously, Associate Justice Thomas is one of them,” said spokeswoman Linda St.Thomas. “However, we cannot tell every story in our inaugural exhibitions.” There is no exhibit on the Supreme Court or the justice system, the museum notes.

The late Justice Thurgood Marshall was featured in the museum because of his work on landmark civil-rights cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, according to the museum.

So you see Thomas couldn't have been excluded from the museum as there is no exhibit for him to have been excluded from.

By George L. Cook III African American Reports.

Grand Opening Schedule for the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Here is the schedule for the weekend long grand opening celebration for the National Museum of African American History and Culture beginning September 23, 2016.

On September 6th at 9:00 a.m. EDT, additional Timed Entry Passes for Grand Opening Weekend Saturday, September 24th and Sunday, September 25th, will be made available. The Museum will also offer Timed Passes for extended hours Monday, September 26th through Sunday, October 2nd. Timed Passes for the months of November and December will also be released Tuesday. Learn more about the timed passes and purchase them here: https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/passes

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Grand Opening Schedule

Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration

Washington Monument Grounds

Friday, September 23, 2016, 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 24, 2016, 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 25, 2016, 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Beginning Friday, September 23, 2016, on the Washington Monument grounds, the National Museum of African American History and Culture presents Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration. Conceived and presented in festival fashion, Freedom Sounds programming will include musical performances, spoken word, oral history activities and evening concerts. A drum circle, storytelling, and interactive workshops provide opportunities for families and large groups of the public to explore and celebrate the museum’s rich content and stories. This three-day music festival presents artists who represent the numerous cultural threads encompassing our shared African diasporic histories and traditions. Two tented stages will offer local, national and international performers, contributing to NMAAHC’s Grand Opening Weekend. The Freedom Sounds festival continues on Saturday and closes the Grand Opening Weekend on Sunday evening, September 25, 2016. Designed to accommodate the crowds anticipated; the festival is free and open to the public.

Dedication Ceremony

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Saturday, September 24, 2016

9:00 a.m. Gathering and Musical Prelude

10:00 a.m. Dedication Ceremony Begins

On Saturday, September 24, 2016, the public witnesses the outdoor Dedication Ceremony of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In the afternoon, the museum officially opens to the public. Tickets are not required for the public to view the outdoor Dedication Ceremony. Extensive large-screen viewing areas are well-positioned for crowds during the Dedication Ceremony.

Museum Opens to the Public

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Saturday, September 24, 2016, 1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 25, 2016, 7:00 a.m. – Midnight

The Museum officially opens to the public at 2pm, following the Dedication Ceremony on Saturday, September 24, 2016. The museum will keep its doors open for extended hours Sunday, September 25, from 10 a.m. to Midnight.

Smithsonian to acknowledge Cosby allegations at new museum

The Smithsonian now plans to acknowledge the sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby at its new African-American history museum on the National Mall, which will display two items related to Cosby's career in television and standup comedy.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opens Sept. 24, will include the cover of a Cosby comedy album and a comic book from his pioneering TV drama "I Spy" as part of its exhibit on black entertainers and artists. Initially, the museum planned to include historical facts about the items without mentioning the allegations, drawing criticism from some Cosby accusers.

The museum's founding director, Lonnie Bunch, said in a statement Thursday that the display would address Cosby's alleged behavior, although he did not specify exactly how.

"Like all of history, our interpretation of Bill Cosby is a work in progress, something that will continue to evolve as new evidence and insights come to the fore," Bunch said. "Visitors will leave the exhibition knowing more about Mr. Cosby's impact on American entertainment, while recognizing that his legacy has been severely damaged by the recent accusations."

[SOURCE]

The Hartford Sponsors Smithsonian National Museum Of African American History And Culture

The Hartford announced its founding sponsorship of the Smithsonian’s newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, NMAAHC. The company made a $1 million contribution over five years to support the design and construction of the building, scheduled to open Sept. 24 in Washington D.C.

“The Hartford has been a part of American history for more than 200 years, growing, thriving and changing along with our nation,” said Susan Johnson, head of diversity and inclusion at The Hartford. “We are proud to be a founding sponsor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and celebrate the important contributions of African Americans to the American Dream.”