*National Museum of African American History and Culture (via DoItWhileYouCan)*

With Donald Trump as president, Kanye West trollin’ us, and black people being questioned and or arrested daily for doing ordinary things like sitting in a Starbucks, not waving to strangers, golfing too slow, napping on a college campus, and moving into a new apartment; the current state of America is pretty bizarre.

During times like these I think it’s important that we as a community come together and remind ourselves just how much we’ve overcome and how much we’ve contributed to this Nation. For a while, I’ve been hearing so many positive things about the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., but tickets are hard to come by. Tickets are free, however, the demand is high, so you have to reserve them about 3 months in advance.

Back in January I reserved tickets to go in April and I am already planning my next visit! The museum was more than I imagined. It is extremely calculated and well executed. The entire museum is comprised of 8 floors and is literally an all-day experience.

When you enter the museum, you are in Heritage Hall, immediately greeted by a warm, welcoming staff. They explain what you’ll see on every floor of the museum, hand you a map, and off you go! You can choose the order you’d like to explore and I decided to go from the bottom to the top.

The lower half of the museum covers slavery and freedom, the processes of defending and defining freedom, the era of segregation and a changing America. The museum’s history starts with the year 1400 and does an amazing job at telling the stories of ancestors that I never learned about in the short 28 day black history month curriculum in middle school.

One person that really stuck out to me was Queen Nzingha. Queen Nzingha was a 17th Century Queen known for her ability to diffuse foreign crisis and she regained control of the Portuguese fortress of Ambaca. Where was the history lesson about her?

In addition to learning about African Royalty, the lower levels of the museum also do a great job as explaining just how much slavery was about power, greed, and monetary gain; but, more importantly, the slave owners knew it was wrong from the very beginning.

One quote that stood out to me and attested to this, was a quote from William Snelgrave in 1734 … “Tho’ to traffic in human creatures, may at first appear barbarous, the advantage of it far outweighs all inconveniences.” Wow. Let that sink in for a bit.

The upper levels of the museum cover; sports, military, visual arts, and music. Upstairs is far more upbeat than downstairs, focusing on the positive contributions African Americans have made to American culture opposed to the many years of oppression.

One of the most beneficial things I discovered in this portion of the museum was The Robert Frederick Smith Explore Your Family History Center. At this portion of the museum, guests are assisted with finding digital resources related to their family history. They also teach you how to conduct genealogical research, oral history interviews and most importantly, tools to help you begin to preserve your own family’s history to make it easier for the next generation.

Aside from the friendly, knowledgeable staff and the plethora of information throughout the museum, another amazing moment was my lunch break at Sweet Home Café! Through food, Sweet Home Café offers a taste of African American Culture. The menu is broken up into sections ranging from; Agricultural South, Creole Coast, North States, and Western Range. I ordered the buttermilk fried chicken with macaroni & cheese and greens which can be found in the Agricultural South section. OMG! There’s my grandmother’s mac & cheese and then there’s this! Sweet Home Café was so good.

Interested in going? Here’s my advice:

Advance time entry passes are available here the first Wednesday of every month at 9:00 AM. Set a reminder on your phone because it’s kind of like waking up early to get Jordan’s on a Saturday!
You are allowed to enter the museum up to 45 minutes before the reserved time on your ticket, take advantage of the extra time.
If possible, pick the earliest time slot available, the museum is an all day affair. Maybe even two days.
Wear walking shoes.
Bring your camera and portable charger. Pictures are encouraged and allowed everywhere in the museum except for one place. The family of Emmett Till was gracious enough to allow his casket to be on display at the museum and out of respect for them, no photos.
If you happen to be in D.C. and want to go to the museum but don’t have a reserved ticket, they do offer certain walk-up days as well as a few left over same-day tickets but those two options do not guarantee entry.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a place everyone needs to visit, for the culture! No matter your race there’s something for you to learn here. For decades people have complained about the curriculum in schools not being enough and furthermore, not being accurate. We now have a FREE resource and it’s our responsibility to educate ourselves.

#DoItWhileYouCan

African American History Museum