WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday celebrated the pending opening of the Smithsonian’s new African-American museum and said the institution, decades in the making, is a powerful place because it tells “the story of all of us,” not just the famous.
Obama also said he hoped the museum would help people bridge divides that were re-exposed by the latest fatal, police-involved shootings of black men.
The country’s first black president, Obama was scheduled to preside over an outdoor ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was built on the National Mall in the shadow of the Washington Monument.
“The thing about this museum is that it’s … more than just telling stories about the famous. It’s not just about the icons,” Obama said at a White House reception celebrating the museum. He added that the museum has plenty of space to feature black icons like Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and others.