Toolkit for "One Hundred Years in the Making"

Introduction

Here are two ideas for how you can bring the NMAAHC to your classroom.

Essential Questions

1. How can my students experience the NMAAHC from the classroom?
2. What’s the significance of having a museum centered on African-American history, culture and community?

Procedure

Host a Local Celebration

Through its “Lift Every Voice” campaign, the NMAAHC invites you to celebrate the museum’s grand opening on September 24, 2016, by hosting a local event in your community. Options include a watch party for the museum dedication, a program, exhibit or other signature event co-branded with NMAAHC and a social media campaign. Click here for more details.

Take a Virtual Tour

Visit the NMAAHC’s website as a class. Project the site onto an interactive whiteboard or have students work in pairs at computers.

• Read about the purpose of the museum. Have students reflect on this quote from Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the NMAAHC:

This Museum will tell the American story through the lens of African American history and culture. This is America’s Story and this museum is for all Americans.

• Learn about the building and its architectural features. Read about and discuss the building’s symbolism. Look at the photographs and watch this video.
   
• Explore artifacts such as a banner used by the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, Joseph Trammell’s freedom papers and the art piece “Modern Cuff.” Have students describe each object, locate its source and ask questions about its origin and purpose.
   
• Read Collection Stories about specific artifacts, such as shards of stained glass from the 1963 bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama; Muhammad Ali’s training robe and boxing headgear; and the lesser-known story of Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins, a blind African-American musical prodigy.