A Groundbreaking 'Double Victory' – NMAAHC

Review by Bill Doughty

U.S. Navy Capt. Brian O. Walden, right, directs the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Band as they play "Hail to the Chief" during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Smithsonian NMAAHC in Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 2012. (Photo by Chief Musician's Mate Stephen Hassay)

The U.S. Navy Ceremonial Band played "Hail to the Chief" as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive on stage for the historic groundbreaking ceremony for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture during Black History Month, Feb. 22, 2012.

Among the museum's exhibitions, collections, photos and other treasures are tributes to – among others – Medal of Honor recipients, the Tuskegee Airmen, Mess Attendant Doris "Dorie" Miller, and the overall "African American Military Experience."

Visitors view an exhibit about the legacy of Mess Attendant Doris “Dorie” Miller at the Smithsonian NMAAHC, Nov. 1, 2016. Adm. Nimitz presented Miller with the Navy Cross for his extraordinary courage during the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (U.S. Navy photo by Arif Patani)

The museum's "Official Guide" (Smithsonian Institution, 2017) shows various galleries and collections – floor-by-floor – and provides context within a history of overcoming slavery and the struggle to achieve civil rights and equality. "The United States was created in this context, forged by slavery as well as a radical new concept, freedom."

The museum represents the triumph of that concept promised in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed in the Constitution – a democratic republic under the rule of law, not under a dictator or monarch. E pluribus unum: out of many, one.

First envisioned in 1915 after World War I, the creation of the museum was a nearly century-long struggle with lots of fits and starts. Congress finally authorized legislation in 2001, signed by President George W. Bush, to create a presidential commission that came back with a strong recommendation backed by Representatives John Lewis and J.C.Watts as well as Senators Sam Brownback and Max Cleland leading to enactment of a public law to bring the museum to life.

The guidebook takes visitors floor by floor to expansive open areas of discovery, art and education.

On the third floor of the museum, "Double Victory: The African American Military Experience" starts with the American Revolution and the War of 1812, into the Civil War and other conflicts, and through both world wars and the Cold War. Wartime military service has proven to be a catalyst for progressive social change throughout U.S. history.

"During the Revolutionary War, thousands of African Americans served as soldiers in the American colonial armies, including Jack Little, whose 1782 pay certificate for his service in the 4th Connecticut is on display here ... The War of 1812, sometimes referred to as the Second War of Independence, opened the ranks of the U.S. Navy to skilled African American seamen ... The Civil War was one of the most pivotal events in American history, and the Union victory that established the possibility of freedom for all depended on the service and sacrifice of tens of thousands of black soldiers, many formerly enslaved."

Museum artifacts include those of the "Buffalo Soldiers," Harlem Hellfighters of WWI, Tuskegee Airmen of WWII, U.S. Marine drill instructor Sgt. Maj. Edgar P. Huff of the Korean War, Air Force General Lloyd "Fig" Newton of the Vietnam War, as well as Vietnam Veteran Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden, a Marine Corps aviator who became an astronaut and the first black administrator of NASA.

Portrait photo of retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj Gen Charles Frank Bolden Jr. hours before his induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas, Oct. 27, 2017. Bolden was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 12th Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 2009 to advance the missions and goals of the U.S. space program. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Cristian Bestul)

Other modern leaders of note featured in the "Double Victory" displays include Gen. Colin Powell, Gen. Hazel Johnson-Brown, and Adm. Michelle Howard.

The official guide is a good read prior to a visit to the museum, and is an invaluable companion for a self-guided tour. With cutaway floor maps and clear color-coded guides, this book offers behind-the-scenes stories about the exhibitions and collections. Of course there's also a downloadable mobile app for Apple IOS and Android to navigate the museum. Visitors can go to the Rosa Parks display, Martin Luther King Jr. tribute, Michael Jordan section, or George Clinton's actual P-Funk Mothership.

A highlight is the exhibition of artifacts recovered by maritime and archeology teams from the Slave Wrecks Project, including from the wreck of Portugese slave ship São José-Paquete de Africa, which sank in a storm off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa Dec. 27, 1794.

The recovery of artifacts from the wreck and collaboration with international teams features prominently in the biography of the NMAAHC founding director Lonnie Bunch III, "A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump" (Smithsonian Books, 2019).

Bunch describes the trials and tribulations of creating the museum and speaks most poignantly of retrieving artifacts related to the São José project in a visit to Africa:

"Finding relics from the São José was the goal of my journey, but I discovered so much more about Mozambique, about slavery in South Africa, about maritime archeology, and about myself. I knew that relics from the ship such as wood from the hold that we would eventually display was not an inanimate object, but a touchstone to give meaning and humanity to the subject of slavery. It would serve as a totem that would prod Americans to replace the silences that we find so comforting with conversations, though difficult, that could lead to reconciliation and healing."

In his description of the groundbreaking ceremony in 2012, Bunch notes, "The United States Navy Band ... delighted the audience and provided a wonderful musical counterbalance to the array of speakers that included senior Smithsonian colleagues, [former first lady] Laura Bush, then Governor of Kansas Sam Brownback, Reverend Calvin O. Butts III, and Congressman John Lewis."

He has an interesting encounter with President Trump during a tour of the museum which is insightful and worth reading.

Bunch concludes with pride about the museum's relevance globally. Yet, he conveys humility about what the museum can mean for all Americans.

"Museums alone cannot ease the tensions that come from the debates surrounding the fluidity of national identity in the twenty-first century," he writes. 
"... But museums can contribute to understanding by creating spaces where debates are spirited but reasoned. Where contemporary challenges are addressed through contextualization and education. Since its opening, NMAAHC has become a site where rational healing and reconciliation are possible."

Author, historian and educator Bunch became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, June 16, 2019. According to his published biography he oversees 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers, and several education units and centers.

Visitors tour exhibits at the Smithsonian NMAACH focusing on the African American military experience. (U.S. Navy Photo by Arif Patani)