The National Museum of African American History and Culture
21 07 2008It has been a long time coming, but the National Museum of African American History is ready to start looking for an architect to design the landmark museum with an incredibly prominent location. Back in January 2006, the Smithsonian Board selected the five-acre site (pictured) adjacent to the Washington Monument, to serve as the location for the new Museum.
We havn’t heard much since then and apparently the hold up was for the environmental impact study, which finished up last week. It shouldn’t be long now before we start to see some designs coming out of the proposals!
Follow the jump to see a 3D rendering of how the building will sit in comparison to other buildings on the National Mall…
[Credit: Louis Berger Group]
What’s next? How about a museum for Hispanics, what about Italians, lets not forget Irish Americans, the Asian Americans really need a museum also, what about Islamic Americans after everything they have been put through, don’t forget the Polish Americans.
Second thought, let’s scrap the whole thing and just have an American History Museum that is top notch and covers all of American history in all it’s glory and tragedy.
We have far too much segregation in this country, let’s not make the same mistake with the museums.
Those most harmed by discrimination and segregation in the past are the ones most likely to not see it when they engage in it their selves.
I agree, I like them building a new museum and all, but I don’t like the trend and where all this ends up.
[…] The National Museum of African American History is looking for its architect. [dcmetrocentric.com] […]
It is going to be located right next to the renovated Smithsonian Museum of American History, so it will function more or less like a component of the broader museum.
There is already advance planning for a Smithsonian Hispanic American Museum (a SI Hispanic Center is the precursor). The other writer is correct that soon every other ethnic/racial interest will want “its” piece of the Mall. Remember when a proposal to locate the African-American Museum at a prominent site off the Mall drew howls of protest that the museum needed to be in America’s “front yard” and anything else would be disrespectful?! All this despite a law in which Congress declared the Mall to be an essentially completed civic work. As a result, the Coalition to Save the Mall group has offered the thoughtful proposal to expand the definition of the Mall on a N-S axis, to provide for new museums and memorials without further building on the historic Mall. Even so, don’t expect the Balkanization of the Smithsonian’s American history mission to abate.
Gosh yes . . . imagine where we’d end up! With museums and sites that recognize the history and contributions of different groups of people. How horrible would THAT be, in the Nation’s Capital, no less. Sheesh!
[…] another group wanting to build a museum on the national mall. Well right on the heels of the National Museum of African American History comes word on a Museum for Women’s History. The only problem is that there aren’t that […]