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The Museum for African American History and Culture A symbolic shovel will soon break ground on a five-acre site for the Museum for African American History and Culture, adjacent to the Washington Monument. The museum will underscore the challenge of interpreting the complex narrative arc of the black experience in America.
A rendering view of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is scheduled to open in 2015. The museum’s design is the result of an intense collaboration among Phil Freelon and two other black architects: David Adjaye and Max Bond.
Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup
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Imaging Atelier
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A rendering view of the National Museum of African American History and Culture from the promenade entry base. The groundbreaking is timed to coincide with George Washington’s birthday.
Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup
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Imaging Atelier
View of the National Museum of African American History and Culture's building model designed by Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup. The group prevailed over 21 other star-studded architecture teams jampacked with names such as Richard Meier, I.M. Pei and Norman Foster.
Radii Inc.
Rendering view of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum, which is scheduled to open in 2015, will be sheathed in bronze-colored material rather than granite, marble or limestone.
Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup
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Imaging Atelier
Lonnie Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, displays some recently curated artifacts in November 2011. Among the items, Harriet Tubman's shawl, eating utensils and funeral photos, and a gospel hymns book and a wanted poster for runaway slaves.
Linda Davidson
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The Washington Post
In this March 8, 2010, photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution, a framed portrait of Harriet Tubman is seen at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Michael R Barnes
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AP
This 1830s bible was owned by Nat Turner and is a gift of Maurice A. Person and Noah and Brooke Porter.
Michael Barnes, Smithsonian Institution
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Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
This March 8, 2010, photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution, Harriet Tubman's Signed Hymn Book is seen at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Michael R Barnes
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AP
A slave's Bill of Sale dated Dec. 23, 1851, is among the curated items for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
Smithsonian Institution
Glenda the Good Witch costume from the musical, "The Wiz," 1975. The dress, designed by Geoffrey Holder, is from Lois Alexander Lane's collection.
Don Hurlbert
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Smithsonian Institution
The floral-print dress Rosa Parks was making shortly before she was arrested for not giving up her seat on a segregated bus in 1955.
Smithsonian Institution
Museum officials look over the donation of two KKK robes to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture in November.
Michael R Barnes
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Smithsonian Institution
In this July 10, 2009 file photo, the original glass-topped coffin of lynching victim Emmett Till is seen rusting in a shack at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., after it was found by investigators at the cemetery where four workers were accused of digging up bodies to resell plots. On Aug. 28, 2009, officials from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and members of Till's family announced the casket's donation to the museum's planned National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington when it opens in 2015.
M. Spencer Green
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AP
A Spirit of Tuskegee Airplane in Tuskegee, Ala., at Moton Municipal Field, the old Tuskegee Army Airfield. The museum’s exhibits will include a Stearman PT-13D
Michael R Barnes
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Smithsonian Institution
Ralph Appelbaum of Ralph Appelbaum Associates, in his lower Manhattan offices overlooking the East River. He is best known for large-scale, permanent museum projects, having designed the Newseum, Capitol Visitor Center and the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Helayne Seidman
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For The Washington Post
The National Museum of American Indian projects a light show, portraits of Native American Indians, on the exterior wall of the east side of their building.
Richard A. Lipski
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The Washington Post
Visitors to the Holocaust Museum pass under this gate, a cast taken from the original entrance to the Auschwitz death camp, inscribed with the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes One Free).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Anacostia Library, designed by Freelon’s firm, is an environmentally friendly building, using energy efficient lighting with a roof that reflects sunlight and keeps the building cooler in the summer. Solar panels on the roof are used to heat water for the building bio-retention pond that removes pollutants from rain water that flows into the Anacostia River. Low-flow faucets and toilets, and waterless urinals are used as well as automatic hand dryers in restrooms. The library was built with recycled materials in flooring, countertops and wood finishes.
Astrid Riecken
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For The Washington Post
The Anacostia Library, designed by Freelon’s firm in 2010.
Astrid Riecken
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For The Washington Post
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