Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/799467
to become a reality, but on opening day the 2,000 people entering each hour only could speak with pride about the structure, which cost $540 million to build. Half of that amount came from private donations and half from the fed- eral government. Individual donors included entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey who donated $21 million, followed by private-equity financier Robert F. Smith who donated $20 million. Actor Denzel Washington and his wife hosted a fundraiser that raised $10 million, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Links Foundation donated $1 million each. Approximately 37,000 artifacts have been acquired by the museum's 18 curators, and 3,000 are in the inaugural exhibition. These include Nat Turner's Bible; Emmet Till's original casket; Harriet Tubman's shawl; and a vintage open-cockpit bi plane used to train Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. There also is debris from a slave ship that broke apart off South Africa enroute to the New World in 1794, drowning 212 Africans. Other items include Chuck Berry's red Cadillac, cleats won by Olympic Gold medalist Jesse Owens, and a dress sewn by the 'mother of the civil rights movement,' Rosa Parks. There is the torch that athlete Rafer Johnso n used to light the cauldron at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. A robe worn by Muhammad Ali is there along with a receipt of sale for a 16-year-old girl named Polly for $600 in 1835. There's also Michael Jackson's fedora. On opening weekend, numerous celebrities poured into Washington for a variety of VIP activities, which began Friday night with a White House recep- tion followed by a Kennedy Center concert featuring Mary J. Blige, Usher and Dave Chappelle. The A-list included civil rights leaders Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton; singers Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Denyce Graves and Angelique Kidjo, who performed on Saturday; actors Samuel Jackson, Will Smith, David Oyelowo, Jesse Williams and Robert DeNiro; and actresses Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyongo'o and Phylicia Rashad. Others inc luded poet Sonia Sanchez; sports legends Hank Aaron and Earvin "Magic" Johnson; for- mer secretary of state Colin Powell; comedian Chris Tucker; and funk singer George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic, whose band's Mothership is on dis- play. On Saturday morning, hundreds turned out for the dedication ceremony where President Barack Obama served as guest speaker. He stated, "James Baldwin once wrote, 'F or while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard.'" Obama thanked former President George W. Bush, Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.), and Supreme Court justice John G. Roberts Jr. for their leader- ship "in making sure this tale is told. We're here in part because of you and because of all those Americans – the Civil War vets, th e Civil Rights foot sol- diers, the champions of this effort on Capitol Hill – who, for more than a cen- tury, kept the dream of this museum alive." He noted that, "this building – the towering glass, the artistry of the metal- work – 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. 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 his- tory, 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 com- memorate as 'history' with a plaque were the unmemorable speeches of two powerful men. Photo Credit: PoPMedia Group B M & T ••• November/December 2016 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 17