NAZZARO STRIANO
The Baltimore Museum of Art announced Monday a set of initiatives to increase awareness of works by African-American artists, in honor of Black History Month.
Tourists walk past the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, which is under construction in Washington, DC.
President Barack Obama will lead a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony that day, which will kick off a week-long celebration including an outdoor festival and extended hours. The museum’s creation was authorized in 2003; since then, it has raised almost $500 million in public and private funds to build the its 400,000-square-foot facility on Constitution Ave., Northwest, between 14th and 15th streets, and to assemble a collection spanning several centuries of black history and culture.
The museum will open with 11 exhibitions that tell African-American stories dating back to the Atlantic slave trade and running through the foundation of the United States, abolitionist movements and the Civil War, the Harlem Renaissance, the civil-rights era, the election of the country’s first black president, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Google Cultural Institute partnered with more than 40 organizations that feature African-American art and artifacts, the release says.
The museum will also house an education center, a theater, a cafe and a shop.
“In a few short months visitors will walk through the doors of the museum and see that it is a place for all people”, said Lonnie Bunch, the museum’s founding director. “The Freedom Trail and Museum welcome everyone to experience history and the invaluable contributions of African-American patriots in February and throughout the year”.