December 7, 2016
Page 11
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
‘Revelations’ depicts some of the works inside the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. It’s part of a commemorative exhibi-
tion of posters from the museum on loan at the Oregon Historical Society.
A Place for All People
Poster exhibit is
peak inside new
national museum
The Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C. opened its new-
est museum, the National Muse-
um of African American History
and Culture in September. Now
there’s an opportunity in Portland
to get a virtual peek inside the mu-
seum as the Oregon Historical So-
ciety presents a commemorative
poster exhibition, “A Place for All
People: Introducing the Nation-
al Museum of African American
History and Culture. The exhibit
opened Tuesday will be on view
until Jan. 16.
A Place for All People high-
lights key artifacts that tell the rich
and diverse story of the African
American experience.
From the child-size shackles of
a slave, to the clothing worn by
Carolotta Walls on her first day at
Little Rock Central High School,
to Chuck Berry’s Gibson guitar,
“Maybellene,” and the track shoes
worn by Olympian Carl Lewis,
the exhibition presents a living
history that reflects challenge, tri-
umph, faith, and hope.
The poster exhibition will
share many stories of African
American and African diaspo-
ra people and their contributions
to the local community and the
American story.
“Once we saw the quality and
poignant content in these posters,
we knew that this exhibit and the
work of the National Museum of
African American History had to
be shared with Oregonians,” said
Willie Richardson, President of
the Oregon Black Pioneers. “In the
past few years, have created three
original exhibitions that have been
showcased at the Oregon Histor-
ical Society, so it seemed like
the perfect venue to exhibit these
powerful posters.”
“The Oregon Historical So-
ciety has been proud to partner
with the Oregon Black Pioneers
on a series of original exhibits
that share the important histories
of Oregon’s Black communities,”
said OHS Executive Director
Kerry Tymchuk. “The stories
and artifacts on view at the Na-
tional Museum of African Amer-
ican History are critical pieces
of American history, and we are
delighted that the Oregon Black
Pioneers reached out to us to host
this important exhibit.”
The journey to establish this
museum began a century ago with
a call for a national memorial to
honor the contributions of African
American Civil War veterans. Af-
ter decades of efforts by private
citizens, organizations, and mem-
bers of Congress, federal legisla-
tion was passed in 2003 to create
the National Museum of African
American History and Culture.
Since then, thousands of artifacts
have been collected to fill the in-
spiring new building that has risen
on the National Mall.