African American History Museum

I recently travelled to the USA to visit family and I was staying in the DMV area. As a lover of black history I've always wanted to visit the African American History Museum since I first heard about it some years back. I finally got the chance to attend the museum in Washington DC and it was a great experience. I went with my cousins and we were literally there for 5 hours. The museum is huge and has 7 floors, so to have the full experience it will take most of the day to explore each floor. I know some people split this into multiple days. As I was only around for a short time I wanted to explore the whole museum in one day.

As you enter the museum  there are three floors below. So how it is designed is that you start at the very bottom which starts with the history of how slavery started and Africans being captured. As you move along the museum it is like you are travelling through time. It then continues  to the slave ships and then slaves reaching America. Everything is in chronological order and there is a LOT of information to read. As much as I wanted to read every single thing, I couldn't due to time, we had spent an hour on the first floor alone. We then progressed to the floor above as the journey continued. As you get to the third floor you see a lot more about black power and the whole journey ends with the election of former President, Barack Obama.

I thought this was a great concept as you journey through the history of African Americans. Though it was emotionally difficult to see the horrors that enslaved Africans went through, as you continue the journey it becomes more positive as you see the progress made by African Americans, the black power movement and how they overcame. Despite knowing a lot of black history already, I learned a lot of new information at this museum. The remaining floors of the museum showcases modern African American culture such as sports, music, film and entertainment. 

After this visit I honestly believe that African Americans are the most resilient group on earth. Going through chattel slavery, separation of families, Jim crow segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, being lynched, red lining plus much more, African Americans have been able to still thrive and achieve great things. They never gave up and many were willing to risk their lives so that they and their future generations could have rights and freedoms. If you are ever in the Washington DC area I would highly recommend that you visit the museum. It is free and you can book the tickets online. Here is my tiktok video of my visit below: