The National Museum of African American History and Culture (The Smithsonian in Washington)
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a place where all Americans can learn about the richness and diversity of the African American experience, what it means to their lives, and how it helped us shape this nation.
Highlights of the museum include – Harriet Tubman’s hymnal; Nat Turner’s bible; A plantation cabin from South Carolina; Guard tower from Angola Prison; Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac convertible; and works by prolific artists such as Charles Alston, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, and Henry O. Tanner.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 and opened its permanent home in 2016 with a ceremony led by President Barack Obama.
Early efforts to establish a federally owned museum featuring African-American history and culture can be traced to 1915 and the National Memorial Association, although the modern push for such an organization did not begin until the 1970s. After years of little success, a legislative push began in 1988 that led to authorization of the museum in 2003. A site was selected in 2006, and a design submitted by Freelon Group/Adjaye Associates/Davis Brody Bond was chosen in 2009. Construction began in 2012 and the museum completed in 2016.

The NMAAHC is the world’s largest museum dedicated to African-American history and culture. In 2022 it welcomed 1,092,552 visitors, and was the second-most visited Smithsonian Museum and eighth-most visited museum in the United States. The museum has more than 40,000 objects in its collection, although only about 3,500 items are on display. The 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2), 10 story building (five above and five below ground) and its exhibits have won critical praise.
When the museum was first opened you can imagine the reviews that came in from the press and visitors alike. Overall the reception was favourable. The location appears that it is a pilgrimage to be made by millions over time. In 2023, National Museum of African American History and Culture was designated the 11th most visited museum in America, with 1,600,000 visitors in that year.
In a review for The New York Times, art critic Holland Cotter wrote, “The extremely complex narrative, with uplift and tragedy seemingly on a fixed collision course, spreads over five floors of galleries”, and that it “holds some of the oldest and most disturbing material.” Cotter added that “It’s great that the museum mixes everything together: It means you can’t just select a comfortable version of history.”
The Wall Street Journal’s critic at large, Edward Rothstein, suggested that “even a full day’s visit is insufficient for a careful survey. That alone is an imposing achievement”. Rothstein wrote that the “museum is illuminating, disturbing, moving—and flawed”. He wrote that we “see the evolution of African-American newspapers, businesses, churches and other institutions. Galleries devoted to music and sports make it plain how much African-American history and culture is simply American history and culture.”
In The Plain Dealer, Susan Glaser wrote that the museum “is really two museums in one: Its historical exhibits encompasses [sic] about 60 percent of the gallery space, while cultural exhibits take up the other 40 percent.” She wrote that the museum is “filled with difficult truths”.
Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne wrote that the museum is the “most impressive and ambitious public building to go up in Washington in a generation” and that despite “some flaws and unfortunate signs of cost-cutting, the design succeeds almost precisely to the degree that it is enigmatic and even fickle, spanning huge gulfs in the national character without being naive enough to try to close them. The building embraces memory and aspiration, protest and reconciliation, pride and shame.”