National Museum of African American History and Culture
For your last project, you will visit the newest Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C., The National Museum of African American History and Culture. The mission of the National Museum of African American History and Culture is to tell the story of America through the lens of black history and culture.
The museum opened in 2016, and you can get a nice video introduction to it with this link.
In this assignment, you will make a virtual visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, using the museum’s excellent website to explore its holdings.
MNAAHC
This virtual visit will form the basis of your paper, which will have three parts. LABEL EACH PART: I, II, III
1. Background and context. Begin with a discussion about what the National Museum of African American History and Culture is, where it is, when it came into being, and what it is for. Please include discussion of the building itself. Discuss its history, symbolism, and architecture.
You can find this information by clicking:
the “About” tab, and then “About the Museum”; AND
the “Explore” tab, and going to “Building.”
In this first part of your paper, practice the art of paraphrasing — that is, putting the information you are learning about in your own words in a way that makes a lot of information clear and contained. When you quote directly, please put the URL for the museum in parentheses (see below, and see the sample paper)
2. Choose and describe one item. There is a vast amount of wonderful material, and you can learn a great deal by simply exploring this site. Explore the museum!
Go to the “Explore tab.”
Click on both “Search the collection” and
“Exhibitions.”
Enjoy!
Ultimately, however, you must choose ONE artifact, photo, object, or artwork. DESCRIBE your chosen object (materials, date, who made it, when, what it does or captures or commemorate, special or notable characteristics, and etc.,). Insert a photo. Describe it and give concrete information about it by using the information provided by the museum catalog. In this part of your paper, practice the art of describing (what is it, what does it look like, what is it made of, what color is it, when was it made, who made it, for what purpose?) Provide a detailed description of your chosen object and facts about it.
3. Analysis and context. Finally, write about how this one object connects to our reading in Vol. II of the textbook, chapters 18-23.
You can either begin with something that caught your attention in the book, or with something you have found in the museum.
The purpose of this part of the paper is to use the readings to illuminate, explain, and better understand your selected object. As you know, objects in museums often only have a very brief description or explanation. You will provide both historical context for understanding the object you are focused on, but also helpful information about its design, style, approach, or distinctive features.
To recap:
The purpose of your visit to NMAAHC to connect what you find in your exploration of a cultural institution with the materials we’ve been reading together in this class.
Your must virtually visit NMAAHC and navigate the website well to do well
You must use the textbook to link together the object you focused on with something in the book. The aim is to help viewers of your chosen focus more deeply understand and appreciate the piece.
Don’t worry about an introduction and a conclusion. Your paper should have three roughly equal parts, which are:
I. NMAAHC background and building
