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Exploring African American Heritage
at the Smithsonian |
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The Smithsonian Institution, the largest museum complex
in the world, is made up of 19 museums and galleries and the
National Zoo, in Washington, D.C., area and New York City. It
also is an important research organization, with facilities
and projects worldwide.
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This brochure, offered as a companion to "Go Smithsonian," a free
guide to the Institution, provides details on exhibitions and
objects on display that reflect the contributions of African
Americans to the history and culture of the United States. Details
on exhibitions and objects in the collections and on view that
reflect the life and art of the peoples of Africa are offered
as well. Programs and activities for young African American
visitors also are noted.
On December 16, 2003, President George W. Bush signed legislation
to create a National
Museum of African American History and Culture within the
Smithsonian Institution. This new museum will be devoted to
the documentation of African American life, art, history and
culture. The museum will be built on the National Mall in Washington,
D.C.
Information subject to change. Please call (202) 633-1000
(voice) or (202) 633-5285 (TTY) to verify dates and other information.
Send e-mail requests to info@si.edu,
or visit the Smithsonian’s Web site at www.smithsonian.org.
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Located in Southeast Washington, D.C.’s historical Anacostia
neighborhood, the museum explores the cultural expressions and
social experiences of African Americans from a community perspective.
Established as the nation's first federally funded neighborhood
museum in 1967 and renamed in 2006, the museum creates critically
acclaimed exhibitions, engaging public programs and innnovative
community documentation initiatives. Its collection of approximately
6,000 objects, documents and photographs, focusing on community
and family history, dates to the early 1800s. Future exhibitions
will examine both traditional and contemporary communities in
terms of their history, cultural continuities and global connections.
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The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and its neighbor, the Freer Gallery
of Art, together form the Smithsonian’s national museum of Asian
art and include some of the world’s finest collections of Islamic
art—an art form that has had considerable influence on African
artists.
The “ImaginAsia” program for children ages 6 to 14 and their adult
companions focuses on cultures throughout Asia and the Islamic
world, including northern Africa. |
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The S. Dillon Ripley Center serves as a learning annex with
meeting rooms, classrooms and a lecture hall. In addition, it
is the home of the International Gallery, which features changing
exhibitions from various Smithsonian museums and other organizations.
The short-term exhibitions are typically on art, history, culture
and science.
It also houses the Discovery Theater, which offers live educational
performances for young people, featuring multicultural programs
in music, theater, storytelling and puppetry, from mid-September
through July. During Black History Month in February, the theater
offers special performances to celebrate the contributions of
African Americans. |
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The museum presents a dynamic and forward-looking array of
exhibitions, special projects and public programs that invite
visitors to get closer to the art and artists of our time. Within
the collection of more than 11,500 works of modern and contemporary
art are works by African American artists, including Mark Bradford,
Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Glenn Ligon, Horace Pippin, Martin
Puryear, Lorna Simpson and Alison Saar. The museum provides a
welcoming environment, with experiences that seek to encourage
visitors to connect with art in their own ways. |
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Learn about the roles that African Americans played
in the development of aviation, space and planetary science. In
the Pioneers of Flight Gallery, "Black Wings: The American
Black in Aviation" tells the story of how African Americans
overcame enormous obstacles to break into aviation. Using more
than 100 historical photographs, the exhibition covers the 1920s
to the present. Also included is a short film portraying the story
of the trailblazing all-black World War II Fighter Group known
as the Tuskegee Airmen. An extensive online version of the "Black
Wings" exhibition, including classroom activities and teachers’
guides, is available at www.nasm.si.edu/interact/blackwings.
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In addition, the museum’s World War II Aviation
Gallery includes a section on African American pilots. In Space
Hall, the spacesuit of the first African American in space,
Guion “Guy” Bluford, is on view. A backup to the Apollo 16 telescope
is on display in the Apollo to the Moon Gallery. This is the
first telescope used to make astronomical observations from
the surface of another planetary body and was designed and built
by black astronomer George Carruthers.
Every February during Black History Month, both museum locations
- on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and at the Steven
F. Udvar Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. - offer lectures by and
about African American aviators, astronauts and scientists,
as well as special programs for families.
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The Renwick is dedicated to exhibiting American crafts and
decorative arts from the 19th century to the present. The building,
named in honor of its architect, James Renwick Jr., has been home
to the museum's contemporary craft program since 1972. The permanent
collection galleries on the second floor showcase a rotating selection
of works in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood and mixed media. African
American artists represented in the collection include Mary Jackson,
Frank E. Cummings III, Winnie Owens-Hart, Art Smith, Therman Statom,
Joyce Scott, Carolyn Mazloomi and James Tanner. |
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The museum reflects the experiences of the American people
and holds in its collections more than 25,000 objects related
to the contributions of African Americans, including memorabilia
of educator Nannie Helen Burroughs; 100,000 pages of Duke Ellington’s
unpublished music; Arthur Ashe’s tennis racket; Ella Fitzgerald’s
famous red dress; and a section of the Woolworth’s lunch counter
from Greensboro, N.C., where four black college students held
a sit-in for racial equality in 1960. The museum initiated the
founding of Jazz Appreciation Month, held annually in April,
and each year offers a variety of programs throughout the month.
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The museum, now closed for renovation, is expected to reopen
in summer 2008. Visit the museum's Web site at americanhistory.si.edu
to explore collections, activities and exhibitions,
including, "The American Presidency," "Julia
Child's Kitchen," "The Price of Freedom: Americans
at War," "America on the Move" and more.
The exhibition, "Treasures of American History,"
which includes the Greensboro lunch counter; Duke Ellington's
sheet music for "Mood Indigo"; a poem jar by Dave,
slave potter; and photos of Malcolm X and Marian Anderson, is
on view until spring 2008 at the National Air and Space Museum.
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The museum holds the nation's first collection
of American art, an unparalleled record of the American experience
that captures the aspirations, character and imagination of
the American people over three centuries.
The pioneering efforts of its curators have created a collection
of African American art that is now considered the largest anywhere,
including works by such masters as Romare Bearden, Roy DeCarava,
Robert Scott Duncanson, Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Edmonia
Lewis, Gordon Parks, Horace Pippin, Martin Puryear, Faith Ringgold
and Renee Stout. |
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Visitors can explore a wide array of works by African American
artists, such as William H. Johnson and Henry Ossawa Tanner, by
visiting the innovative Luce Foundation Center, which displays
3,300 artworks from the museum's collections. |
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