Here Is Something Nice

It has been one year since the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. — and, marking that anniversary, DCist's Rachel Sadon interviewed the NMAAHC's Director Lonnie Bunch, who spent more than a decade working to open the museum.

Since Ruth Odom Bonner joined President Barack Obama in ringing the bell to open the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture last year, more than 2.5 million people have visited the site.

"What's been so moving is that it's clear after a year, the museum has already become a pilgrimage site," says Director Lonnie Bunch, who began the "great adventure" of opening the museum in 2005. What followed was more than a decade of building a collection and a building from scratch.

It culminated on September 24, 2016 when the daughter of a slave and the nation's first black president tolled the 500-pound bell that had been lent by the historically black First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Va. and ushered people in.

Visitors to the African American History and Culture Museum tend to stay more than triple the typical amount of time they spend at most museums. Even a year later, a pass system remains in place to prevent overcrowding, and the free tickets remain difficult to come by (they are released monthly, and a limited number of same-day tickets are available online starting at 6:30 a.m.). The cafe serves up over 1,500 meals a day.

Bunch attributes the success in part to a pent up demand—generations worked to get the museum built, and the long-held dream was only fulfilled after more than a century of effort. But he also believes that the way the museum presents its subject matter has a lot to do with it.

"It tells the unvarnished truth," Bunch says. "I think there are people who were stunned that a federal institution could tell the story with complexity, with truth, with tragedy, and sometimes resilience. So I think the kind of honesty of it appeals to people."

Head on over to read the interview. It's terrific.

What a debt this nation owes to Bunch and all the people who worked with him to make this museum happen. And not a moment too soon.