October 5, 2012
The story of African Americans is one of the central stories that will be told in the National Museum of the American People.
The National Museum of the American People, which would sit near the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, DC, will tell the story of African Americans along with the stories of all of the other peoples that have come to this land and this nation.
It has support from 10 national African American organizations including the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Blacks in Government, National Alliance of Black School Educators, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, National Congress of Black Women, National Council of Negro Women, National Organization of Black County Officials and TransAfrica Forum.
They are part of a coalition of more than 150 ethnic and minority organizations that are calling for a bipartisan Presidential commission after the election to study establishment of the museum.
Today, Black and African Americans comprise nearly 14 percent of the U.S. population – a total of 43 million people.
The museum will tell the story of the making of the American People from the first migrations to this land thousands of years ago and extends through waves of migration and immigration to the present. Yet nowhere is there a museum devoted to telling this full story.
For African Americans, as well as all the others, the museum will tell who they were, where they came from, why they left their original homeland, how they got here, when they arrived, where they first settled, who was already here, what they encountered, where they moved after they arrived, how they became Americans, what they contributed and how they transformed the nation. It will challenge visitors to reflect upon that history.
The coalition is not seeking federal funding to plan, build or operate the museum. A resolution in Congress calling for a presidential commission to study the museum has bipartisan support, including from these African American members of Congress who cosponsored the resolution: Reps. Keith Ellison, MN; Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC; Charlie Rangel, NY; Laura Richardson, CA and Robert Scott, VA. Before he died earlier this year, Rep. Donald Payne, NJ, was also a cosponsor.
"The telling of the African American story in the National Museum of the American People celebrates diversity and the rich history of our nation," said Rep. Richardson. "As the proud representative of the 37th district in California, I embrace diversity. My district is one of the most diverse districts in the United States as it is home to varying groups of Hispanics, African Americans, Caucasians, and the world's second largest grouping of ethnic Cambodians and Samoans. According to 2010 Census information, 22 percent of 37th district residents identified themselves as Black or African American.
"The National Museum of the American People will contribute tremendously to our society by sharing and celebrating the heritage of the African American people with the world," she said.
"The story of the making of the American People would be presented in a dramatic, interactive documentary format," said Sam Eskenazi, Director of the Coalition for the National Museum of the American People. "It would be developed and vetted by teams of eminent scholars, including African American scholars, and the museum's story will be told with force and clarity.
"While the story of African Americans will also be told in the National Museum of African American History and Culture now under construction in Washington, the story would be told in two contexts, one in the context of African American history and the other in the context of every American's history," Eskenazi said. "The history of African Americans is a central story in our nation. We strongly believe that the two museums will complement each other and that visitors to one will want to visit the other.
"The National Museum of the American People's permanent exhibition will leave an indelible impression of knowledge and understanding on visitors as they engage and come to know the full story of the making of the American people and how the story of African Americans fits into that story," he said.
The story could be told in the museum over four chapters:
Chapter 1 - The First Peoples Come: Prehistoric period-1607; Indian migration and settlement, early European explorers and first European settlement.
Chapter 2 - The Nation Takes Form: 1607-1820; the fate of Indians, Western European settlement, the African slave trade, the establishment of the nation, and the beginning of its expansion taking in new peoples. The story of African Americans begins in 1619 in Jamestown, VA, soon after the first permanent European settlement there in 1607 that led to the establishment of the United States. English settlers brought African Americans and the institution of slavery in the United States began.
Most of those brought as slaves came from central and western Africa. Most African Americans are descendants of Africans held as slaves from 1619 to 1865. After the American Revolution, the U.S. Constitution incorporated the institution of slavery with the fugitive slave clause and the compromise that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation in Congress and for other purposes. All of the Northern states adopted emancipation acts between 1780 and 1804. In 1808, the U.S. Congress abolished the international slave trade.
Chapter 3 - The Great In–Gathering: 1820-1924; a century of immigration. The ancestors of most Americans came during this period. Slavery continued for the first part of this chapter that was punctuated by the Civil War. In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the Southern states. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution outlawing slavery in the entire U.S. was ratified in 1865. In 1868, the 14th Amendment granted full U.S. citizenship to African Americans.
After the war, a migration of Northern Blacks moved back to the South. But about a decade later, Jim Crow laws setting up a legal framework of segregation started to spread throughout the South and Blacks were again disenfranchised. At the end of this chapter, African Americans began moving from the South to Harlem in New York City, the South Side of Chicago and to other points north and west.
Chapter 4 - And Still They Come: 1924-present; the ongoing story of American immigration. During World War II, more than 1.5 million Blacks served in the Armed Forces in segregated units. During the war there was also a major migration of African Americans to the north and west to work in wartime industries. By the end of this migration, more than 80 percent of Blacks lived in cities throughout the nation. Following the war, President Truman in 1948 issued an executive order to desegregate the U.S. military.
States today with the largest proportion of Blacks include Mississippi, 37%; Louisiana, 32%; Georgia, 31%; Maryland, 30%; South Carolina, 28% and Alabama, 26%. There are 18 states with one million or more Blacks. The four states with three million or more Blacks are New York, Florida, Texas and Georgia.
The metropolitan area with the largest Black population is New York with 3.4 million. Metropolitan areas with between 1 and 2 million Blacks include Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston.
Dr. E. Faye Williams, Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, said "When Eskenazi first approached me regarding the National Museum of the American People, I said yes immediately. The story of all that African Americans have accomplished and have contributed to this country has never been fully told -- especially the story of African American women. This museum has the potential to help all of us learn more about each other. Increased knowledge will lead to increased respect and understanding of each other."
"The National Museum of the American People will be at the intersection of every American group's memory and the history of our nation," Eskenazi said. "The theme of the museum is embodied by our nation's original national motto: E Pluribus Unum, from many we are one."
He said that "both U.S. neighbors, Canada and Mexico, have major national museums in their capitals telling the story of their peoples starting from the prehistoric period and they're the most visited museums in those nations. Our museum would be a destination for every school group visiting Washington and it would foster learning nationwide."