Good Day

Today I took my wife and my son to the African Art museum here in DC. I have not been to this museum in about 10 years. My parents took my brother and I there a few times when we were younger and I took a few dates as I got older. I wanted my son even though he is two to really start to understand important history. The first part of the trip to the museum involved just looking at wonderful pieces of art from different countries in Africa. My first observation was that out of all the pieces, Nigeria seemed to have the most detailed work. The work from there also seemed to use a variety of material. The work from the Congo also had me very inspired. It seemed to use a lot of its work to honor the family structure. The next part of the museum had a exhibit that showed in pictures and words the civil rights movement. Many of the pictures revolved around MLK, Andrew Young, John Lewis, Stokley Carmichael and a host of others. Many of the pictures showed the police beating marchers, people being hosed, and dogs being used to attack people. Some of the pictures were very graphic in that they showed people who were shot and killed by police in Alabama, Tennessee and various other states. The exhibit was very moving. They also had a display that showed the police report from when Rosa Parks was arrested. It even had the paper where she did her fingerprints. They even had a TV set up showing the old Eyes on the Prize series. I really hope my son took in some of what he saw even though he is not able to read as of yet. I really need him to understand what we have come through to get where we are today and where we need to go. It was a powerful exhibit.