By traveler 
So my “Seein’ the DMV” selection for August was a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. As I mentioned in my earlier blog post, I’ve visited the museum twice previously in the eight years since it opened.
The Metro subway system took me to within 4/10 of a mile of the museum, but that was a pretty long walk for me. Still, driving wasn’t really an option because finding parking was nearly impossible mid-day in that part of DC. Next time–and there needs to be a next time–I will see if there is a bus that would drop me off closer to the museum entrance.
Anyway, I decided to go because their Afrofuturism exhibition was scheduled to close at the end of the week. As a fan of Star Trek–I’m debating whether to post a picture of my personal ST collection here, The Matrix, The Black Panther, and reading science fiction, I wanted to see the exhibit. It covered decades of books, recordings, television, and films related to the subject. A few of the pictures I took are below:
The exhibit was located in the lowest level of the museum, where the historical displays were. This allowed me to immediately enter that section. This area begins in the 1400s and works through the years of history–from the forced migration of Africans to countries on both sides of the Atlantic Oceans, to enslavement, war, emancipation, Jim Crow, civil rights protests, and the development of social and culture of a people to the present day. The exhibit displayed documents, paintings and photos, sounds and video to create a very vivid and powerful presentation.
I made it as far as the beginning of Reconstruction, and a few of the pictures are below:
The experience left me tired physically, mentally and emotionally, so I exited the gallery and went to the museum’s cafe. I bypassed the southern cuisine because I know the food and would find myself comparing theirs with what I myself, not to mention my grandma, mother, aunts, daddy, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends, church members,… have made. Instead, I opted to temporarily alleviate my seafood deprivation and ordered salmon and roasted potatoes, along with a slice of pecan pie and a can of ginger ale. I will not judge the meal too harshly since I am guessing that–being so near to their closing time, the food had been setting under heat lamps for hours–the quality was not going to be its best. However, after spending over $32 for it, my expectations could not be dispelled. I will, instead, put the cost down as a way to support the high quality of the museum as a whole.
(This reminds me that I need to write a review for Tripadvisor.)
When I finished my meal, I had three options: leave the museum, re-enter the gallery and continue the historical exhibition, or to enter the contemplative court near the cafe. I decided to spend a few minutes contemplating the first two options by entering the third. The square had a large waterfall at its center that filled it with sound meant to encourage quiet contemplation. Each of its walls had a quotation, by MLK, singer and record producer Sam Cooke, South African president Nelson Mandela, and poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
I had to conclude that both the time of day and my aching bod indicated that option one was the best since I still had to get to SB via the Metro. Then, it hit me that my youngest brother might be able to pick me up and give me a ride to my car. As it worked out, he was close enough to do just that. Yea!!
Before I left the museum, I noticed a small display explaining the history of the building itself. So much went into bringing the project to reality:
All of the pictures I’m sharing are available at https://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Seein-the-DMV-African-American-Museum-081324
I am so proud and pleased to see the African American museum take its place in the Smithsonian system and to see the good and the bad presented for all to see and experience. I plan to return in the fall to continue my exploration of its exhibits.