Museum Of African American History

A year after winning construction approval from Congress and President Bush, the Smithsonian Institution said Tuesday it is about to receive the first federal appropriation for the planned National Museum of African American History and Culture. The $3.9-million appropriation for 2005 will be used for engineering studies, planning and staffing, the Smithsonian said. The institution also announced that it has appointed 19 members to the African American museum's council.

As the nation watches President Obama take the oath of office Monday for his second term, Americans may notice a more mature (and grayer) version of the hopeful candidate depicted in Shepard Fairey's ubiquitous 2008 campaign poster. Since then, Obama's likeness has been cartooned, lampooned and masterfully crafted by artists of varying inclinations. Although the official presidential portrait will not be revealed until the end of his second term, some interesting interpretations are already on view.

It was known as the Middle Passage, the journey from West Africa to the New World. The chained slaves--Africans often in their early teens--were tightly packed in the ship's hold. Over a 400-year period, about 2,500 ships made the journey. There is a painful irony to some ships' names: Gift of God, Brotherly Love, Deliverance, Good Intent. A third of the enslaved passengers died on the trip. This gruesome odyssey is the defining event that shaped the history of Africans in America.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired the original casket of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder in 1955 energized the modern civil rights movement. The official announcement of the donation, made by the Till family to the Smithsonian Institution, will be made Friday, the 54th anniversary of his death, during a memorial service in Chicago, museum officials confirmed. What some might consider a horrific artifact would seem to be a necessary addition to the sweeping story of black triumphs and tragedies that the museum plans to tell when it opens on the Mall in 2015.

Six design concepts for the future national black history museum planned for the National Mall were unveiled Friday, mostly breaking with the tradition of boxy Smithsonian Institution museums by showcasing earthy elements and varied shapes. Any one of the proposed designs for the National Museum of African American History and Culture could mark a sharp departure in the architecture between the Capitol and Washington Monument for what could be the final museum added to the area.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired the original casket of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder in 1955 energized the modern civil rights movement. The official announcement of the donation, made by the Till family to the Smithsonian Institution, will be made Friday, the 54th anniversary of his death, during a memorial service in Chicago, museum officials confirmed. What some might consider a horrific artifact would seem to be a necessary addition to the sweeping story of black triumphs and tragedies that the museum plans to tell when it opens on the Mall in 2015.

As the nation watches President Obama take the oath of office Monday for his second term, Americans may notice a more mature (and grayer) version of the hopeful candidate depicted in Shepard Fairey's ubiquitous 2008 campaign poster. Since then, Obama's likeness has been cartooned, lampooned and masterfully crafted by artists of varying inclinations. Although the official presidential portrait will not be revealed until the end of his second term, some interesting interpretations are already on view.

Museum director: Lonnie G. Bunch, president of the Chicago Historical Society for the last four years, has been named founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture that the Smithsonian Institution plans to build in Washington. Bunch, 52, was the curator of history at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles from 1983 to 1989, then held a series of positions at the Smithsonian before moving to the Chicago job.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $10 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture planned for the National Mall in Washington. The grant announced Thursday will support the capital campaign for design and construction of the new museum. Allan Golston, president of the foundation's U.S. programs, said the museum will make the stories and history of African Americans available to everyone. Groundbreaking is expected in 2012, and the opening is slated for 2015.

On the eve of the Civil War, Maryland slave Isaac Dorsey was granted his freedom. He stored the legal proof of his new status in a handcrafted metal tube and passed it down to his descendants. His great-grandson, James Dorsey, recently donated these family treasures to the just-opened Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. But the $34-million institution, the largest African American museum on the East Coast, almost didn't get the gift.

Six design concepts for the future national black history museum planned for the National Mall were unveiled Friday, mostly breaking with the tradition of boxy Smithsonian Institution museums by showcasing earthy elements and varied shapes. Any one of the proposed designs for the National Museum of African American History and Culture could mark a sharp departure in the architecture between the Capitol and Washington Monument for what could be the final museum added to the area.

A year after winning construction approval from Congress and President Bush, the Smithsonian Institution said Tuesday it is about to receive the first federal appropriation for the planned National Museum of African American History and Culture. The $3.9-million appropriation for 2005 will be used for engineering studies, planning and staffing, the Smithsonian said. The institution also announced that it has appointed 19 members to the African American museum's council.

It was known as the Middle Passage, the journey from West Africa to the New World. The chained slaves--Africans often in their early teens--were tightly packed in the ship's hold. Over a 400-year period, about 2,500 ships made the journey. There is a painful irony to some ships' names: Gift of God, Brotherly Love, Deliverance, Good Intent. A third of the enslaved passengers died on the trip. This gruesome odyssey is the defining event that shaped the history of Africans in America.

The Smithsonian Institution today launched its first major exhibit celebrating the late civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. The traveling show opens in Detroit before moving to Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Memphis and Montgomery, Ala., for the next two years. In a tribute to the diversity that King championed, the artists whose works appear in the show include Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Ben Shahn and Andy Warhol.