1400 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20560 nmaahc.si.edu (202) 633-7344 @NMAAHC #CityOfHope1968 Front Cover: Photograph by: Laura Jones A black and white digital image of people in the Reflecting Pool on Solidarity Day at Resurrection City. Back Cover: Photograph by: Laura Jones A black and white digital image of a mule train from Mississippi passing through Washington, D.C.
CITY HOPE: OF RESURRECTION CITY & THE 1968 POOR PEOPLE S CAMPAIGN AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY
EWS ADVISORY MEDIA ONLY: Jermaine House (202) 633-9495; housej@si.edu Fleur Paysour (202) 633-4761; paysourf@si.edu Shrita Hernandez (202) 633-0589; hernandez@si.edu MEDIA WEBSITE: http://newsdesk.si.edu #CityOfHope1968 WHAT: MEDIA ADVISORY City of Hope: Resurrection City & the 1968 Poor People s Campaign Exhibition Media Briefing: Commemorating King s Life, Legacy and Last Campaign to End Poverty WHEN: TUESDAY, JAN. 9 8:30 a.m. 9 a.m. (continental breakfast) 9 a.m. 10 a.m. (panel, Q&A) 10:15 a.m. (begin interviews, exhibition tours and photo opps) WHERE: RECEPTION SUITE AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY Constitution Ave. between 12th and 14th streets N.W. (use Constitution Ave. entrance) THIS EXHIBITION IS NOT LOCATED AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE. WHO: PANELISTS: LONNIE G. BUNCH III, founding director, National Museum of African American History and Culture KINSHASHA HOLMAN CONWILL, deputy director, National Museum of African American History and Culture (moderator) AARON BRYANT, curator, National Museum of African American History and Culture PETER EDELMAN, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy and faculty director, Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown University MARC MORIAL, president, National Urban League MARC STEINER, founding president and CEO of the Center for Emerging Media, who worked with the Young Patriots Organization to organize Appalachians and poor whites in Chicago FEATURED GUESTS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS: ALICE CARSON, social worker and volunteer food server at Resurrection City KENNETH JADIN, professor emeritus of Howard University s Department of Architecture and a lead architect of Resurrection City ROBERT HOUSTON, Black Star photographer on assignment for Life magazine at Resurrection City MARGARET TURNER, child day-care volunteer at Resurrection City 1
NEWS ADVISORY The National Museum of African American History and Culture is hosting this special media briefing on its latest exhibition City of Hope: Resurrection City and the 1968 Poor People s Campaign located in the gallery inside the National Museum of American History. The exhibition media briefing will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Poor People s Campaign with a brief panel presentation, Q&A session and guided tours of the exhibition. The City of Hope exhibit explores the construction and dismantling of Resurrection City, the six-week experience living on the National Mall and the legacy of what became known as King s final and most ambitious campaign to end poverty in America. Media covering the King Holiday and King s legacy (Jan. 15) will have a rare opportunity to hear directly from an architect who built Resurrection City, photographers who documented the campaign, organizers and volunteers who participated in the campaign and leaders of the modern effort for economic fairness and justice. Image: Photograph by: Laura Jones A black and white digital image of a crowd marching.
RESS RELEASE National Museum of African American History and Culture Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. s Final Crusade in New Exhibition, CITY OF HOPE: RESURRECTION CITY AND THE 1968 POOR PEOPLE S CAMPAIGN Features never-before-seen images from photographers Roland Freeman, Jill Freedman, Robert Houston, Laura Jones, Clara Watkins and Ernest Withers The Smithsonian s National Museum of African American History and Culture commemorates the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. s final human rights crusade in a new exhibition on the Poor People s Campaign, a multicultural coalition that began in 1968 to end poverty. The exhibition, City of Hope: Resurrection City & the 1968 Poor People s Campaign, features rare archival film and new oral histories with people who helped organize the campaign including Marian Wright Edelman and Andrew Young. It also features wooden tent panels, lapel buttons, placards and murals created by and used by some of the nearly 8,000 people who occupied the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for nearly six weeks to call the nation s attention to the crippling effects of poverty for minorities, children and the elderly. The museum s exhibition is housed in its gallery at the Smithsonian s National Museum of American History as a partner to the exhibition, American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith, which explores the history of citizen participation, debate and compromise from the nation s formation to today. Launching its celebration of King s birthday, the museum today, Jan. 9, hosted a media briefing and guided tours of the new exhibition bringing in people who played key roles in building and documenting Resurrection City. WITH NEW AND RECENTLY DISCOVERED FILM AND AUDIO FOOTAGE, IMAGES AND OBJECTS, THIS EXHIBITION PROVIDES A RARE LOOK INSIDE THE 1968 POOR PEOPLE S CAMPAIGN AND COMMEMORATES THE LEGACY OF DR. KING S FINAL CAMPAIGN FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE... - LONNIE G. BUNCH III With new and recently discovered film and audio footage, images and objects, this exhibition provides a rare look inside the 1968 Poor People s Campaign and commemorates the legacy of Dr. King s final campaign for economic justice, said Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This exhibition reminds us that despite the unprecedented economic growth in America over the past five decades, there are still many Americans living below the poverty line. Although the Poor People s Campaign did not achieve its goal of eradicating poverty, it 3
spawned a multiethnic and multiracial movement for economic fairness whose belief in helping America live up to its ideals still inspires to this day. The stories of those who sacrificed so much are found in City of Hope: Resurrection City & the Poor People s Campaign. Original sound recordings of musical performances and conversations among campaign participants have been provided by the Smithsonian s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The recordings, along with never-seen film produced by the Hearst Corp., show how people lived during the six-week occupation at Resurrection City. Among the film highlights is footage of people traveling in a caravan of mule-drawn wagons from Marks, Miss., to Memphis, Tenn., for King s memorial service and then on to Washington to participate in the Poor People s Campaign BACKGROUND ON POOR PEOPLE S CAMPAIGN AND RESURRECTION CITY In the 1960s, as the United States emerged as a global model of wealth and democracy, an estimated 25 million Americans lived in poverty. From the elderly and underemployed to children and persons with disabilities, poverty affected people of every race, age, and religion. In response, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by King and Ralph David Abernathy, organized the Poor People s Campaign as a national human rights issue. As a multiethnic movement that included African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asians and poor whites from Appalachia and rural communities, the six-week, livein demonstration in Washington attracted protestors nationwide. The campaign leaders presented demands to Congress, including jobs, living wages and access to land, capital and health care. It was the first large-scale, nationally organized demonstration after King s death. The campaign, the final vision of King s life, has come to be known as his most ambitious dream. ABOUT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened Sept. 24, 2016, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument, the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu, follow @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000. 4
PRESS IMAGES MORE PRESS IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qd4zo74r8f4obpm/aacolyakjfpzfpp4y8rzttfla?dl=0 LEFT PHOTOGRAPH BY: Robert Houston TITLE: Young girl in tent doorway - Resurrection City, Wash., D.C. -1968 DATED: May 21, 1968- June 23, 1968 CREDIT LINE: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Greta Houston, Robert Houston DESCRIPTION: This image depicts a young girl peering out between the flaps of a yellow tent in Resurrection City during the Poor People s Campaign. BOTTOM PHOTOGRAPH BY: Laura Jones TITLE: Crowd wading in the Reflection Pool DATED: June 19, 1968 CREDIT LINE: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Laura Jones Laura Jones DESCRIPTION: A black and white digital image of people in the Reflecting Pool on Solidarity Day at Resurrection City. 5
LEFT PHOTOGRAPH BY: Laura Jones TITLE: Mule Train from Mississippi going through the city of Washington, D.C. June, 1968 DATED: 1968 CREDIT LINE: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Laura Jones Laura Jones DESCRIPTION: A black and white digital image of a mule train from Mississippi passing through Washington, D.C. RIGHT PHOTOGRAPH BY: Robert Houston TITLE: Yellow school bus - Resurrection City., Wash, D.C. - 1968 DATED: May 21, 1968- June 23, 1968 CREDIT LINE: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Greta Houston, Robert Houston DESCRIPTION: This image depicts a yellow school bus parked by the curb with five men s heads protruding from side windows and one man emerging from the door. LEFT PHOTOGRAPH BY: Laura Jones TITLE: Ministers March DATED: 1968 CREDIT LINE: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Laura Jones Laura Jones DESCRIPTION: A black and white digital image of a crowd marching. Ralph Abernathy and Mel Thom march with a crowd. 6
ACT SHEET 43 Days that Resurrection City lasted 15 Acres covered by Resurrection City 13,000 Miles traveled by nine regional caravans to Washington, D.C. 3,000 People living in Resurrection City during first three weeks (peak occupation) 6,220 Registered members of Poor People s Campaign 50,000 Attendees at Solidarity Day 337 People arrested on last day of Resurrection City 2 Weeks to build Resurrection City 540 Tents built in Resurrection City 15 Minutes to assemble a prefabricated A-frame shelter with a three-person team 90 Minutes for police to evacuate and shut down Resurrection City 20013 Zip code for Resurrection City 60 Children enrolled in the Head Start program at Resurrection City 3,840 Patient visits to the free medical and dental facilities 185,000 Free meals served in the dining tent 300 Gallons of paint used to make signs and decorate shelters 7.36 Inches of rainfall in Resurrection City 7
The U.S. Census Bureau might summarize poverty as the level of income required to cover the basic needs of families and individuals. The actual numbers for America s poor differ, therefore depending on variables such as family size, age, and regional cost of living. In 1968, for example, the median income for U.S. households was $7,700 per year (equivalent to $53,720 today). The Office of Economic Opportunity set the poverty line at $3,130 per year (equivalent to $22,540 today) per year for families of four and $1,540 (equivalent to $11,090 today) for individuals. Today, the median household income is $59,039 with the poverty line set at $24,600 per year for families of four and $12,060 for individuals. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Census Bureau 201 million TOTAL POPULATION 323 million 35 million NUMBER PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY 40.6 million POVERTY RATES of Total Population 15.6 % Children 25% Elderly People 33.5% People of Color 10 % White People 18 % 9.3% 51.5 % 8.8%
IOS LONNIE G. BUNCH, III, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE Historian, author, curator and educator, Lonnie G. Bunch, III is the founding director of the Smithsonian s National Museum of African American History and Culture. In this position, he promotes the museum s mission to help audiences see African American history as American history, and provides strategic leadership in areas of fundraising, collections, and academic and cultural partnerships. The museum, the 19th to open as part of the Smithsonian Institution, is located on the national Mall where Smithsonian museums attracted more than 24 million visitors in 2005. It stands on a five-acre site adjacent to the Washington Monument and opposite the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. The museum opened to critical and public acclaim on September 24, 2016. As a public historian, a scholar who brings history to the people, Bunch has spent nearly 30 years in the museum field where he is regarded as one of the nation s leading figures in the historical and museum community. 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. 9
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 Thea Remembering Our Heritage Award (2016), and National Newspaper Publishers Association Torch Award (2016). In 2016, Washingtonian Magazine named him Washingtonian of the Year and Bunch was listed as #1 in the Washington Business Journal s Power 100 ratings and in Vanity Fair s Hall of Fame. In 2017, Bunch was given the President Award at the NAACP Image Award and the Greater Washington Urban League presented him with the Impact Leader Award.In 2017, Bunch was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 10
IOS LONNIE G. BUNCH, III CONTINUED Born in the Newark, N.J. area, Bunch has held numerous teaching positions across the country including The American University in Washington, D.C. (1978-1979); the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (1979-1981); and The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1989-2000). He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from The American University in Washington, D.C. in African American and American history. He is married to Maria Marable Bunch, a museum educator. They have two daughters, Sarah and Katie. KINSHASHA HOLMAN CONWILL, DEPUTY DIRECTOR SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE Kinshasha Holman Conwill is Deputy Director of the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Prior to joining the Museum she was an arts, museum, and management consultant where her projects included acting as Senior Policy Advisor for the Museums & Community Initiative of the American Association of Museums, project director for the New York City Creative Communities program of LINC (Leveraging Investments in Creativity), project director and managing editor for Culture Counts: Strategies for a More Vibrant Cultural Life for New York City (New York Foundation for the Arts), and project manager for Creative Downtown: The Role of Culture in Rebuilding Lower Manhattan (New York City Arts Coalition). She was Director of The Studio Museum in Harlem from 1988 to 1999; she joined the Museum in 1980 as Deputy Director. At the Studio Museum, she conceptualized, organized, or co-organized more than 40 major exhibitions, many of which traveled nationally, including Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1940-1987; Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition; The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s; Explorations in the City of Light: African-American Artists in Paris, 1945-1965; Wifredo Lam and His Contemporaries, 1938-1952; Norman Lewis: Black Paintings, 1946-1977; To Conserve a Legacy: American Art From Historically Black Colleges and Universities; and Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition; and an award-winning contemporary African art exhibition at the 1990 Venice Biennale. She is a member of the boards of Provisions Library and the Municipal Art Society of New York. She previously served as Assistant Exhibit Coordinator for the Museum of the American Indian in New York City and Coordinator of Activities for the Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House, and also taught art in the Los Angeles Unified School District. From 1970 to 1980, she was a practicing visual and performance artist. 11
KINSHASHA HOLMAN CONWILL CONTINUED A native of Atlanta, Georgia, she attended Mount Holyoke College as a National Achievement Scholar, graduated magna cum laude from Howard University with a B.F.A., and received an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. AARON BRYANT, CURATOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND VISUAL CULTURE SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE Aaron Bryant is Curator of Photography, Visual Culture, and Contemporary Political History at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He has presented lectures on photography and cultural history at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke, the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford. Bryant has written for publications ranging from anthologies in political history to journals and catalogs in performance institutions such as the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Smithsonian Institution, the Organization of American Historians and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society. In 2014, he was appointed a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (UK) for his research in social movement theory and visual anthropology. PETER EDELMAN, LAW PROFESSOR Peter Benjamin Edelman (born January 9, 1938) is an American lawyer, policy maker, and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in the fields of poverty, welfare, juvenile justice, and constitutional law. He worked for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and for the Clinton administration, where he resigned to protest Bill Clinton is signing the welfare reform legislation. Edelman was one of the founders and president of the board of the New Israel Fund. He also worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as special assistantto-assistant attorney general John Douglas. Edelman worked as a legislative assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, from 1964 to 1968, accompanying Kennedy to his meeting with labor leader Cesar Chavez. Edelman also met his wife while touring impoverished areas of Mississippi with Kennedy to prepare for reauthorization of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Following Kennedy s assassination, Edelman spent brief periods working as deputy director for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, issues director for Arthur Goldberg s New York gubernatorial campaign, and vice president of the University of Massachusetts, from 1972 to 1975. 12
IOS PETER EDELMAN, CONTINUED Edelman became director of the New York state Division for Youth, in 1975, joined Foley & Lardner as partner in 1979, and served as issues director for Senator Edward Kennedy s presidential campaign, in 1980. In 1981, he helped found Parents United in the District of Columbia to empower parents to advocate for educational quality in DC s public schools. Edelman is married to Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children s Defense Fund and the first black woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi. They have three sons: Joshua, Jonah and Ezra. MARC STEINER, FOUNDING PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE CENTER FOR EMERGING MEDIA Marc Steiner is the founding president and CEO of the Center for Emerging Media, a Baltimore-based nonprofit media production company dedicated to producing programs that discuss important issues and that give airtime to voices that would otherwise go unheard, particularly the voices and stories of the disenfranchised and dispossessed. In 2007 the Center for Emerging Media and Marc Steiner were awarded the George F. Peabody Award for excellence in broadcast journalism, for the series Just Words, a weekly documentary feature series that gave voice to marginalized people-low wage workers. Steiner is also the host of The Marc Steiner Show, a radio program broadcast out of Baltimore, Maryland, for which he has gained national recognition for his insightful interviewing style. The show is known for grappling with tough political and cultural issues. Earlier in his career, Steiner worked in therapeutic settings with at-risk youth. He founded a theater program in the Maryland state prison system, as well as the Family Circle Theater, a company of teenagers that wrote, produced, directed and acted in original productions. Marc also served for a year as the principal of Baltimore s Experimental High School, and he taught theatre for ten years at the Baltimore School for the Arts. Marc and his wife Valerie live in the country just outside of Baltimore. He has three daughters and four grandchildren. 13
MARC MORIAL, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Marc Morial is the president and CEO of the National Urban league, the nation s largest civil rights organization. During his career, he has served as an entrepreneur, lawyer, professor, legislator, mayor and president of U.S. Conference of Mayors. As President of the National Urban League since 2003 Morial has been the primary catalyst for an era of change. His leadership has expanded the League s work around an Empowerment agenda, which is redefining civil rights in the 21st century with a renewed emphasis on closing the economic gaps between Whites and Blacks as well as rich and poor Americans. Under his stewardship the League has had record fundraising success towards a 250MM, five year fundraising goal and he has secured the BBB nonprofit certification, which has established the NUL as a leading national nonprofit. He helped establish initiatives including the Urban Youth Empowerment Program to assist young adults in securing sustainable jobs, and Entrepreneurship Centers in 5 cities to help the growth of small businesses. Morial also created the National Urban League Empowerment Fund, which has pumped almost $200 million into urban impact businesses including minority business through both debt and equity investments. As an Entrepreneur, Morial started several successful small businesses -- an apparel wholesale company, a special events company and a janitorial company. As a Lawyer, Morial won the Louisiana State Bar Association s Pro Bono Publico Award for his legal service to the poor and disadvantaged. He was also one of the youngest lawyers, at age 26, to argue and win a major case before the Louisiana Supreme Court. As a Professor, Morial served on the adjunct faculty of Xavier University in Louisiana, where he taught constitutional law, and business law. As a Louisiana State Senator, Morial was named Legislative Rookie of the Year, Education Senator of the Year, and Environmental Senator of the Year, while authoring laws on a wide range of important subjects. As Mayor of New Orleans, Morial was a popular chief executive with a broad multi-racial coalition who led New Orleans 1990 s renaissance, and left office with a 70% approval rating. He serves as an Executive Committee member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Black Leadership Forum, and Leadership 18, and is a Board Member of the Muhammad Ali Center, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Morial is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Georgetown University Law Center. He has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine, as well as one of the Top 50 Nonprofit Executives by the Nonprofit Times. 14
ACT SHEET National Museum of African American History and Culture DIRECTOR: Lonnie G. Bunch III TOTAL FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES: 163 ANNUAL BUDGET (FEDERAL AND TRUST) FY 2017: $41.3 million APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF ARTIFACTS: 37,000 BACKGROUND The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened Sept. 24, 2016, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Occupying a prominent 5-acre location next to the Washington Monument, the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. The museum was created in 2003 by an act of Congress, establishing it as part of the Smithsonian. Construction began in February 2012 with a ceremonial groundbreaking. COLLECTIONS The museum has about 3,000 objects on display from its collection of nearly 40,000. Highlights include: Harriet Tubman collection, including her hymnal (c. 1876); lace shawl (c. 1897), given to her by Queen Victoria; and family photographs from her funeral Jim Crow railroad car (c. 1920) Chuck Berry s red Cadillac convertible (c. 1973) Black Fashion Museum Collection (about 1,000 items) Tuskegee Airmen Trainer Plane, an open-cockpit PT-13 Stearman (c. 1942) used to prepare Tuskegee Airmen for World War II combat duty Works of art by Charles Alston, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Lorna Simpson, Romare Bearden, Archibald John Motley Jr., Henry O. Tanner and Frederick C. Flemister Emmett Till s casket (c. 1955) the glass-topped coffin that held the body of 14-year-old Emmett Till, whose murder in Mississippi helped galvanize the civil rights movement Slave cabin from Edisto Island, S.C. (c. 1800 50) 15
BUILDING LAYOUT AND INAUGURAL EXHIBITIONS Located at the corner of 15th Street N.W. and Constitution Avenue, the museum includes exhibition galleries, an education center, a theater, an auditorium, a café, a store and offices. The museum s inaugural exhibitions focus on broad themes of history, culture and community. These exhibitions have been conceived to help transform visitors understanding of American history and culture and to help visitors adapt to and participate in changing definitions of American citizenship, liberty and equality. The exhibitions employ a range of interpretive and experiential strategies. FIFTH FLOOR: Staff offices, boardroom FOURTH FLOOR: Culture galleries: Musical Crossroads, Cultural Expressions, Visual Arts Gallery, Taking the Stage THIRD FLOOR: Community galleries: Power of Place, Making a Way Out of No Way, Sports: Leveling the Playing Field, Double Victory: The African American Military Experience SECOND FLOOR: Education space, resource center, the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts FIRST FLOOR: Central hall, welcome center, Corona Pavilion, store. CONCOURSE 0: Atrium, Contemplative Court, Oprah Winfrey Theater, A Century in the Making, Special Exhibitions Gallery, Sweet Home Café CONCOURSE 1: History Gallery A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond CONCOURSE 2: History Gallery Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: Era of Segregation 1876-1968 CONCOURSE 3: History Gallery Slavery and Freedom 1400-1877 VISITATION The museum is open 364 days a year. Regular operating hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The museum is closed Dec. 25. Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the museum has welcomed about 1.5 million visitors. The museum uses a free timed-pass system to serve as many visitors as possible. Online same-day timed passes: Visitors can obtain passes on the day of their planned visit starting at 6:30 a.m. on the museum s website at nmaahc.si.edu/sameday. Walk-up passes: A limited number of walk-up passes are available at 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. No walk-up passes are available on weekends due to high visitation. Advance timed-entry passes for individuals are released the first Wednesday of each month at NMAAHC. si.edu or by calling 866-297-4020. The next release for September 2017 passes will be June 7 at 9 a.m. For more information, visit http://newsdesk.si.edu and https://nmaahc.si.edu/ and follow the museum on social media: @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000. 16