National Museum of African American History and Culture

Lonnie G. Bunch III was put in charge of creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2005, two years after the project was approved by Congress. Planned to open in 2015, Bunch and his team have been frantically throwing all of the various exhibits together. There will be sections on West African art, African American progress and everything in between. The museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute, will be a change from the typical message of African American museums. "This is not being built as a museum by African-Americans for African-Americans,” says Bunch. The main goal of the museum is to tell, as truthfully as possible, the story of African-Americans in this country. This museum is particularly relevant now because of our inauguration of our first African-American president. However, as controversial as race always is and always inevitably will be, the biggest issue is what history will be shown and what history will be tip toed around. The Smithsonian Institute gets a large amount of funding every year from the United States Government, which creates sensitivity issues. Will all that was true be exposed? The new American Indian History museum has been criticized from shedding too much light on the good parts of the history and not exposing enough of the more controversial history. The issue really boils down to, is America ready to face it's past? Or will we choose to hide in the shadows and pretend like nothing ever happened?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23smithsonian.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=us&src=me