Excerpt:
What we can see of this building – the towering glass, the artistry of the metalwork – is surely a sight to behold. But beyond the majesty of the building, what makes this occasion so special is the larger story it contains. Below us, this building reaches down 70 feet, its roots spreading far wider and deeper than any tree on this Mall. And on its lowest level, after you walk past remnants of a slave ship, after you reflect on the immortal declaration that “all men are created equal,” you can see a block of stone. On top of this stone sits a historical marker, weathered by the ages. That marker reads: “General Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay spoke from this slave block…during the year 1830.”
I want
you to think about this. Consider what
this artifact tells us about history, about how it’s told, and about what can
be cast aside. On a stone where day
after day, for years, men and women were torn from their spouse or their child,
shackled and bound, and bought and sold, and bid like cattle; on a stone worn
down by the tragedy of over a thousand bare feet – for a long time, the only
thing we considered important, the singular thing we once chose to commemorate
as “history” with a plaque were the unmemorable speeches of two powerful men.
And
that block I think explains why this museum is so necessary. Because that same object, reframed, put in
context, tells us so much more. As
Americans, we rightfully passed on the tales of the giants who built this
country; who led armies into battle and waged seminal debates in the halls of
Congress and the corridors of power. But
too often, we ignored or forgot the stories of millions upon millions of
others, who built this nation just as surely, whose humble eloquence, whose
calloused hands, whose steady drive helped to create cities, erect industries,
build the arsenals of democracy.
And so
this national museum helps to tell a richer and fuller story of who we
are. It helps us better understand the
lives, yes, of the President, but also the slave; the industrialist, but also
the porter; the keeper of the status quo, but also of the activist seeking to
overthrow that status quo; the teacher or the cook, alongside the
statesman. And by knowing this other
story, we better understand ourselves and each other. It binds us
together. It reaffirms that all of us
are America – that African-American history is not somehow separate from our
larger American story, it’s not the underside of the American story, it is
central to the American story. That our
glory derives not just from our most obvious triumphs, but how we’ve wrested
triumph from tragedy, and how we’ve been able to remake ourselves, again and
again and again, in accordance with our highest ideals.
I, too,
am America.
