HOORAY - HOORAY! Kudos to the Inauguration of the African American Smithsonian Museum - September 24, 2016

Lonnie Bunch - Curator
African-American Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC

“I, too, am America.” Langston Hughes

I, Too

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BY LANGSTON HUGHES

I, too, sing America. 

I am the darker brother. 

They send me to eat in the kitchen 

When company comes, 

But I laugh, 

And eat well, 

And grow strong. 

Tomorrow, 

I’ll be at the table 

When company comes. 

Nobody’ll dare 

Say to me, 

“Eat in the kitchen,” 

Then. 

Besides, 

They’ll see how beautiful I am 

And be ashamed— 

I, too, am America.

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Official Opening Day, Sept. 24

EMILY BRENNAN - TRAVEL

Highlights: President Obama will lead the dedication ceremony, which will begin at 10 a.m. outside the museum, at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, after musical performances and readings of African-American literature that start at 9 a.m.

Michelle Obama, President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Representative John Lewis and others are attending.

FREEDOM BELL - FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN WILLIAMSBURG, VA

USA TODAY, September 23, 2016

In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves in slave-holding states free, church bells rang as news of the declaration spread.

More than 150 years later, another freedom bell will ring as the nation’s first black president assists with opening the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24. 

The bell, nicknamed the "Freedom Bell"  was installed in the 1880s at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Va., and was recently restored after falling into disrepair. The Freedom Bell was transported to Washington, D.C., earlier this week, alongside members of the congregation, for the opening ceremonies on the National Mall.

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L-R:  Ex-First Lady Laura Bush, President George Bush, First Lady Michele Obama, and
 President Barack Obama

Today, President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, President George Bush, first lady Laura Bush, U. S.Congressman John Lewis, U. S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, billionaire Oprah Winfrey and actor Will Smith will kick-off the Inaugural ceremony.

Over 36,000 artifacts, such as the Slave Cabin, Emmett Till Casket and Chuck Berry's Red Cadillac below.

Slave Cabin

Emmett Till Mom
August 28, 1955, Money, MS
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Till was from Chicago, Illinois, and visiting relatives in Money, a small town in the Mississippi Delta region.

Chuck Berry's Red Cadillac