WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian Institution has announced that the National Museum of African American History and Culture will open September 24, with President Barack Obama scheduled to cut the ribbon to commence a weeklong celebration that will include films, music, dance and other attractions.
The museum is at the corner of Constitution Avenue, between 14th and 15th streets, adjacent to the Washington Monument and across from the National Museum of American History.
The 400,000-square-foot museum will have five levels above ground and four more below and in addition to exhibition space will have a theater, a cafe and an education center.
The 11 inaugural exhibitions will feature some of the museum’s 34,000 artifacts, including a segregated railroad car, a shawl worn by Harriet Tubman, a traveling trunk that belonged to the family of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, an airplane used to train Tuskegee airmen, Nat Turner’s bible and objects from a sunken slave ship.
Museum officials said that the “signature space” is a water and light-filled memorial area called the Contemplative Court, where visitors can reflect on the stories told within the building.
The building’s design offers a number of angled viewpoints known as “lenses” where visitors can view the White House and the Washington Monument and other locations around the National Mall from framed perspectives — “a view of America through the lens of the African American experience.”
The building was recently turned into a large 3D movie screen depicting a film that highlighted significant moments in the country’s history.