Tag Archives: Smithsonian Institution

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

National Museum of African American History and Culture

06/02/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

For All The World To See:
Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights

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Sanitation workers assembled before Clayborn Temple
Ernest C. Withers, Sanitation Workers assemble in front of Clayborn
Temple for a solidarity march. Memphis, TN, March 28, 1968.
Ernest C. Withers, Sanitation Workers assemble in front of Clayborn

Civil rights leaders and activists were often exceptionally skillful image-makers, adept at capitalizing on the authority of pictures to edify, educate, and persuade. They also understood, and took advantage of, new visual technologies as well as society’s insatiable hunger for pictures. Through compelling photographs, television and film clips, and other historic artifacts, For All the World to See explores the role of visual culture — from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s — in shaping and transforming the struggle for racial equality and justice.

Curated by Maurice Berger, Ph.D. For All The World To See was organized by the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The exhibition opens June 10 and runs through November 24, 2011 in NMAAHC‘s gallery on level two at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. For information about this exhibition please click here.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Don’t Let GOP Censor the Smithsonian

12/06/2010 Nativegrl77

I urge you to end the hostile rhetoric and respect America’s standards of honoring free speech and creative expression. As the leaders of incoming majority of the House of Representatives in the coming year, your job should be to work with the Senate and the White House to advance policies which will help Americans, not to chase political straw men at the behest of the Far Right.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have thrown the weight of government into efforts by the Religious Right to shut down an acclaimed art exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. The Hide/Seek exhibit explores evolving expressions of sexuality in art. The Religious Right — in this instance led by the always-hysterical Bill Donohue and his fringe Catholic League — and its allies in Congress have been quick to try to whip their base into a fervor over themes they didn’t even try to understand before condemning as “anti-Christian.”

Cantor ludicrously said the exhibit is an intentional attempt to offend Christians during the Christmas season. And Boehner, Cantor and other right-wing leaders have attacked the exhibit as a questionable use of taxpayer money, even though Smithsonian exhibits — including this one — are privately funded. They are now threatening to go after Smithsonian public funding and even to launch investigations into Smithsonian exhibits.

Tell the House Republican Leadership to stay out of the censorship game and to keep their hands off Smithsonian funding.

After you sign the petition to Reps. Boehner and Cantor, you’ll be asked to call the National Portrait Gallery and urge administrators there to stand strong against the Right in defense of free expression.

The Gallery was quick to cave on one piece of the Hide/Seek exhibit which was singled out by the Right: a video which included an 11-second segment depicting a Crucifix with ants crawling on it, a statement about the suffering of AIDS victims at the time the video was produced. The video, by the artist David Wojnarowicz, who himself died of AIDS in 1992, had been on display for a month without a single complaint from any museum attendees. The only complaints the Portrait Gallery received about the video or any parts of the exhibit were from Religious Right activists from around the country who had not actually seen the art. In a twist of sad irony, these activists were successful in getting the video taken down exactly one day before World AIDS Day. Hide/Seek is a courageous exhibit, but it’s an outrage that the Portrait Gallery would not show equal courage in defending the exhibit in its entirety against right-wing censorship.

We need to speak up to make sure that there are no more capitulations by the Smithsonian, and to make sure that Republican congressional leaders don’t get away with their ridiculous political pandering to the radical Religious Right.

Please add your voice to the growing chorus of Americans who are speaking out against this latest right-wing attack.

Reps. Boehner and Cantor, along with virtually ever other congressional Republican leader, are working hard to block all business on Capitol Hill… holding the country hostage by insisting that no much-needed measures be passed until the Bush tax cuts are extended for the richest 2% of Americans… and all the while attacking the president for not doing enough to create jobs. Yet THIS is how they want to spend their time and taxpayer dollars — kowtowing to right-wing zealots like Bill Donohue by attacking the arts and investigating museums.

Shame on them.

Sincerely,

Michael Keegan, President

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Let’s make history

12/02/2010 Nativegrl77

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Amid a sea of signs proclaiming, “I am a man,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined Memphis sanitation workers on strike. Just one week after this photo was taken, Dr. King was murdered.

Despite this tragic loss, men and women of all colors pushed forward and continued to fight for freedom and equality. More than 40 years after King’s assassination, Americans elected the first African American president, achieving a historic and cultural milestone that was centuries in the making.

You have an opportunity to make history, too, by joining me in building a lasting tribute to the story of African Americans past and present. The Smithsonian Institution is building a new National Museum of African American History and Culture to celebrate and honor those brave men and women who survived slavery, who endured extreme racism and violence and who pioneered the arts, sciences, music and sports.

We need Americans like you who have the courage and vision to help make this Museum something we can all be proud of. Congress is providing one-half of the funds to build this new Smithsonian Museum. We must raise another $250 million to meet our total goal of $500 million from individuals like you who understand that the story of African Americans is the story of America.

Your gift today of $25, $50 or whatever you can afford will help ensure that these stories from individuals to collective movements of the past and present are recorded and preserved for all time and for all the citizens of our great nation.

By studying and understanding the struggles and successes of African Americans through the decades, all Americans can explore the shifting definitions of American citizenship, liberty and equality.

Ultimately, the National Museum of African American History and Culture will be a place that reminds us of what we were, what challenges we still face and that guides us towards what we can become. Let us build it together.

Thank you for being our partner in building this great Museum.

Sincerely,

Adrienne Brooks
Director of Development
National Museum of African American History and Culture

P.S. If you haven’t joined as an NMAAHC Charter Member, please click here to join today!

~ Culture & History

NMAAHC Brings “Treasures” to the Detroit Nov. 20

11/18/2010 Nativegrl77

National Museum of
African American History and Culture
Brings “Treasures” to Detroit Nov. 20

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will co-host a daylong program to help Detroit-area residents identify and preserve items of historical and cultural significance tucked away in the attics, closets and basements of their homes. Presented in collaboration with the Detroit Public Library, the event will feature presentations, hands-on activities and preservation tips.

The program will take place Saturday, Nov., 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the main branch of the library, 5201 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, and will feature welcoming remarks by Rex M. Ellis, the museum’s associate director for curatorial affairs and Jo Anne G. Mondowney, executive director of the library. Free and open to the public, the event is the eighth in a series from the museum’s signature program “Save Our African American Treasures: A National Collections Initiative of Discovery and Preservation.”

Mary Ballard, senior textile conservator at the
Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute,
inspects an artifact during a “Treasures” event.

Participants can reserve in advance to bring up to three personal items for a 20-minute, one-on-one professional consultation with experts on how to care for them. The specialists will serve as reviewers, not appraisers, and will not determine an item’s monetary value. Objects such as books, paper and textiles no larger than a shopping bag (furniture, carpets, firearms and paintings are excluded) can be reviewed. Those wishing to have items reviewed must make reservations by e-mailing treasures@si.edu or by calling toll free (877) 733-9599. Reservations are not required for those not wishing a one-on-one consultation. Additional information is available at nmaahc.si.edu.

“We are extremely proud to bring ‘Save our African American Treasures’ to Detroit,” said Lonnie G. Bunch, founding director of the museum. “We encourage people to become aware of what they have, to protect it and to preserve it so the story of African Americans in this country can be told. Nineteenth- and 20th-century objects — family photographs, military uniforms, farm tools and wedding dresses — can help tell this story for future generations; if we do not act now to preserve these items, the tangible evidence of a critical component of American history will be lost.”

A participant meets with senior objects conservator in Atlanta.

A participant from “Treasures” Atlanta meets with
senior objects conservator, Carol Grissom of the
Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute.

“We are excited and pleased to provide Detroit area residents the opportunity to discover, preserve and celebrate their personal histories,” said Jo Anne G. Mondowney, executive director of the Detroit Public Library. Their participation in this worthwhile event will have a lasting and loving impact on generations yet unborn.”

As a key stop on the Underground Railroad, a major destination in the Great Migration, the city where the Motown sound was born and Rosa Parks called home, Detroit’s significance to the history of African Americans can not be overlooked. It is the artifacts of this rich history that “Treasures” seeks to preserve.

The “Treasures” program also includes the following sessions:

Preservation Presentations: Informal basic preservation sessions will take place during the day. The first session will provide information about the treasures in Detroit Public Library’s special collections. During the following session participants can learn about how to preserve textiles and how the National Museum of African American History and Culture will use textiles to tell stories in the new museum. The final two sessions of the day will be dedicated to the preservation of paper and digital photographs.

Hands-on Preservation: In this hands-on activity, participants are invited to learn how to properly store letters, pack garments and prepare photographs for preservation storage and presentation.

Oral Histories: Participants may record a brief personal memory, a family story or a memory of a historical event. Family members are encouraged to interview each other.

Also on hand at the event will be on-air personalities from Mix 93 FM who will give out door prizes and conduct call-ins to the station.

Elaine Nichols, supervisory curator of culture at the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American
History and Culture, meets with 99 year old
Amelia Boynton Robinson during “Treasures” Atlanta.

Future events will be held in Jackson, Miss. and New York City. Save our African American Treasures was made possible with support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The grants also support the pre-design and construction of the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., scheduled to open in 2015.

As a companion to the series, the museum has produced African American Treasures: A Preservation Guide, a 30-page guidebook that is distributed free to attendees and to individuals, community groups and educators to highlight the importance of proper preservation techniques. The guidebook is part of the “Treasures” kit. Also distributed will be white cotton gloves, archival tissue papers and archival documents sleeves to help people keep their personal treasures safe.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established in 2003 by an Act of Congress, making it the 19th Smithsonian Institution museum. Scheduled for completion in 2015, it will be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on a five-acre tract adjacent to the Washington Monument. Currently, during the pre-building phase, the museum is producing publications, hosting public programs and assembling collections. It is presenting exhibitions at other museums across the country and at its own gallery at the National Museum of American History. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000, (202) 633-5285 (TTY).

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

NMAAHC -Need to remind you of three things …a message from Adrienne C. Brooks

11/16/2010 Nativegrl77

I can’t begin to thank you enough for your past support of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Getting involved so early with something of this magnitude requires faith and vision, and everyone at the Museum truly appreciates your support and engagement with this historic endeavor.

As with any major undertaking, the first steps are always the most important. Building on the National Mall in Washington DC requires fine attention to detail. Our goal is to create a place worthy of the Museum’s mission and its prominent location on the National Mall – adjacent to the Washington Monument and near the White House.

As you read these words, our award-winning architectural team is working to design this signature new museum; our curators are creating state-of-the-art exhibitions that reflect the rich history and culture of the African American community; and our educators are developing innovative educational curricula and public programs.

Of course, you do not have to wait until the Museum opens in 2015 to experience what we will offer. You can see it now! We have programs and exhibitions currently underway — and as a Museum supporter you are already receiving special, early notices and invitations via email. That is just one of the benefits of your helping us raise the funds we need to build this much-anticipated Museum. Your special “insiders” look is one way we have of showing you just how much we appreciate your support.

As the end of the year approaches, I wanted to remind you of three things:

The overarching mission of the Museum is to use African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American and that the African American experience is interwoven with, not separate from, the American experience. Together they create one, powerful American story.
The Museum will cost $500 million, half of which, $250 million, we must raise from Americans, like you, from around the nation.
The end of the year is the perfect time to make a tax-deductible gift to the Museum.

There are many good reasons to support the Museum: the powerful history and culture that will be on exhibit; the opportunity to add your name to something that will inspire and educate future generations; and the presentation of this important story in the grand tradition of a Smithsonian museum.

Whatever your reasons, we are honored by your commitment to the Museum. Our campaign to build the Museum continues to gain momentum, thanks to supporters like you. The bottom line is that we need your steadfast support and are very grateful to receive it.

So, please, take a moment right now to make a contribution to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Again, thank you very much.

All the best,

Adrienne C. Brooks
Director of Development

P.S. I just want to underscore the great tax benefit your contribution to the Museum represents. Whatever amount you are able to generously contribute today is tax- deductible to the full extent of the law.