America I AM: New Exhibit at National Geographic

One of the ironies of telling the African American experience today is that is hardly an under-told story. The same exhbit that would have groundbreaking, and maybe even contoversial, in 1981 treads a well worn path in 2011. Once routinely marginalized and white washed out of the story; historians and museum curators have taken to re-examining these stories with vigor. Today, there's no shortage of museums, in Washington, DC and elsewhere, hosting exhibits and contributing to the discussion of African-American history and culture.

So the National Geographic Museum faces a unique challenge hosting it's new exhibit America I AM: The African American Imprint. How do you tell this story in a way that has relevance to today's generation in a way that avoids the whole "oh, it's February again, we have to talk about Black people" trap?

It's a challenge, and America I AM largely rises to it. The exhibit is a comprehensive and well documented look at the African American experience in our country, with a particular focus on how that experience interplays with larger society as a whole. From it's roots in the slave trade, to the election of our first African American President, America I AM details the unique, separate, and largely unequal experience of the only large group of Americans who didn't choose to come here.

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Beyond the Lincoln Memorial: Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington

photo uploaded to flickr by Rainer EbertNext year at this time, we will be able to examine the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. at his new Memorial, scheduled to open later this year. And, of course, the Lincoln Memorial is the traditional site to contemplate Dr. King; where you can stand where he did and see the same symbols of American democracy he did on August 28, 1963.

But this year, I thought I'd stray a little away from this single event, and show a little of impact Dr. King had in his many visits to our city. "Martin Luther King spoke here" is rapidly becoming the modern day equivalent of "George Washington slept here", so let's take a look at a few of those spots; some well know, others less so.

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It's Just Too Hard To Keep Fear Alive: The Resumption of Sanity

photo by Maria Helena CareyLet’s face it, it feels good to be scared. The warm rush of anger, the burst of camaraderie when you find others that feel as you do, the single-minded focus at being mad as hell, and just not taking it anymore. Sure, we’d all like to curl up in a warm blanket of fear and not have to get out of bed and put our feet on the cold floor of sanity.

But sooner or later, we all have to go to the bathroom, and tackle that cold floor. So it is with our nation. No matter how deep the abyss of fear is, we always manage to pull ourselves out sooner or later, and often with much pain. Cold comfort, perhaps, for those on the wrong side of hysteria, a sign of underlying resiliency in our national psyche.

And so, while my friend Robert’s fear-mongering tour of Washington, DC’s dreadful past showed the legacy of fear, eventually each of these stories were turned about, and we as a nation have become stronger for surmounting them. Let's take a look, shall we?

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Weekly Washington: Same Old, Same Old

photo uploaded to flickr by J-BlueDiscussion continues to swirl around the Constitutionality of Washington, DC's nearly 100 year old tour guide licenseing program. The Institute of Justice's Robert McNamara laid out their position againt licenses in last week's Washington Post's All Opinion's Are Local column, and the Guild of Professional Tour Guide's President Jim Heegeman rebutted in this week's (WaPo Tag Fail: listed under "crime"). Both gentlemen further discussed the issue in person on the Kojo Nnamdi Show. The Washington Post aparently clipped and pasted the Institute of Justice's press releases in writing this Op-Ed, which must have taken as much as thirty minutes to research and write. John Kelly calls the Institute's lawsuit "ridiculously apocalyptic in its descriptions of the dangers of D.C.'s regs, raising the specter of taxi drivers being thrown in jail for pointing out the Washington Monument."

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WalkingTown DC: 5 Tours To Take In

photo uploaded to flickr by TravlrI love WalkingTown DC (ok, fine, and BikingTown DC). Every spring and fall, Cultural Tourism DC pulls together various Museums, tour guides, historical societies, community groups, and othjer entities less definable and offers over 100 free bike and walking tours. Frankly, if you're in town and not taking in at least one of these, you're really just wasting your time in Washington.

But what to do? With so many to choose from, which to pick. Well, everyone is different, but here's the five I would (and hopefully will) do if I had some free time Saturday and Sunday:

note: be sure to check Cultural Tourism DC's website for full info. Some tours require reservations.

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