where president lyndon johnson fought for and signed the landmark civil rights act of 1964. today african americans help lead our nation in all facets of life from government to the military to the law, from business to the arts to medicine and education. this museum will share these stories and will pay tribute to the many lives known and unknown that have so immeasurably enriched our nation. the national museum of african american history and culture began as a bipartisan effort through legislation sponsored by representatives john louis and jc watts and senator sam brownback. my husband, president bush was proud to sign it into law in

2003 and to envision the museum to be built on the mall where we honor artists, inventors, explorers, soldiers and states men. i'm particularly proud of the museum's vision which is dedicated not simply to this building but also to reaching out to communities around the nation. the museum has already begun traveling expedition and artifact preservation programs. it is a museum dedicated to welcoming all americans whether or not they'll be able to travel to washington, d.c. i'm glad, too, that this building will be able to stand next to the monument of our first president, george washington. a man who came to recognize the evils of bondage freeing his slaves in his will. side by side these two spots are symbolic of our own national

journey, for the stories that will be preserved within these walls, the stories of suffering and perseverance, of daring, of imaginuation and triumph are the stories of african americans and are also stories that are forever woven through the heart of the fabric of our nation. thank you all and god bless you all. [ applause ] it is now my great honor and privilege to welcome the president of the united states.

>> thank you. thank you so much. [ applause ] thank you so much. please have a seat. thank you very much. well, good morning, everybody. i want to thank you for that introduction and for her leadership at the smithsonian. i want to thank everybody who helped make this day happen. i want to thank laura bush, sam brownback, my hero, congressman john louis and everybody who's worked so hard to make this possible. i'm so proud of lonnie bunch who came here from chicago i want to point out, i remember having a conversation with him about this job when he was planning to embark on this extraordinary

journey and we could not be prouder of the work that he has done to help make this day possible. i promise to do my part by being brief. as others have mentioned, this day has been a long time coming. the idea for a museum dedicated to african americans was first put forward by black veterans of the civil war. years later the call was picked up by members of the civil rights generation, by men and women who knew how to fight for what was right and strive for what is just. this is their day. this is your day. it's an honor to be here to see the fruit of your labor. it's also fitting that this museum has found a home on the national mall. as has been mentioned it was on

this ground long ago that lives were once traded, where hundreds of thousands once marched for jobs and for freedom. it was here that the pillars of our democracy were built often by black hands. and it is on this spot along side the monuments gave birth to this nation and those who worked so hard to perfect it. the generations will remember the sometimes difficult, often inspirational but always central role that african americans have played in the life of our country. this museum will celebrate that history. because just as the memories of our earliest days have been confined to dusty letters and faded pictures, the time will come when few people remember drinking from a colored water fountain or boarding a segregated bus or hearing in

person dr. king's voice boom down from the lincoln memorial. that's why what we built here will be a monument for all time. it will do more than simply keep those memories alive. just like the air and space museum challenged us to set our sights higher or the natural museum encourages us to look closer or the holocaust museum calls us to fight prosecution wherever we find it this museum should inspire us, as well. it should stand as proof that the most important things in life rarely come quickly or easily. it should remind us that although we have yet to reach the mountain top we cannot stop climbing. and that's why in moments like this i think about my daughters

and i think about your children. the millions of visitors who will stand where we stand long after we're gone. i think about what i want them to experience. i think about what i want them to takeaway. when our children look at harriet tutman's shawl or the plane flown by air men i want them to see how ordinary americans can do extraordinary things, how men and women just like them have the courage and determination to right a wrong, to make it right. i want my daughters to see the shackles that bound slaves on their voyage across the ocean and the shards of glass that flew from the 16th street

baptist church and understand that injustice and evil exists in the world. but i also want them to hear louis armstrong's horn and learn about the negro league and read the poems of phyllous wittily. and i want them to appreciate this museum as a record of tragedy and a celebrafe. when future generations hear these songs of pain and progress and struggle and sacrifice i hope they will not think of them as somehow separate from the larger american story. i want them to see it as central an important part of our shared story, a call to see ourselves in one another. remember each of us is made in god's image. that's the history we will preserve within these walls. the history of a people who in

the words of dr. king injected dignity into the veins of civilization. may we remember their stories. may we live up to their example. thank you. god bless you and god bless the united states of america. [ applause ] at this time i would like to invite the ground breakers to gather together at the foot of

the steps at the stage here. okay. once you're ready with your instruments i would like to invite everyone to join me in the count down. five, four, three, two, one. break ground. [ applause ]

before i say good bye would you please join me in honoring the wonderful work done today.

[ applause ] well, there was supposed to be a voice of god but you'll have to settle for me. please enjoy yourself. we are having a reception. and, again, let me thank you very much. this means a great deal to the smithsonian that you came, that you care and that you are a part of this so thank you all very much. [ applause ]

september, 1864, john don't

worry, i'm going to focus on '62. captain charles steedman of the united states navy offered what some might consider extravagant praise for the subject of my talk today. that little man, said steedman of our hero who was just under medium height, clean shaven with piercing eyes and a determined jaw, that little man has done more to put down the rebellion than any general except grant and sherman. some of you may have already figured out who steedman was talking about. it was, of course, admiral david, the commander of the fleet in the recent victory at mobile bay. he is more important and more relevant to our chronological

focus today, the captor of new orleans and architect of union control of the lower mississippi valley in 1862. in my judgment thiezchievements along with the part in the port hud sentence and vicksburg campaigns in 1863 but especially the capture of new orleans, one of the most important northern strategic victories of the war do entitle him to virtually equal status with grant and sherman in winning the war. in the eyes of contemporaries in 1861, however, the allegiance to the united states in the sectional conflict was an open question. although he had served under the american flag for half a century and had fought in the war of 1812 and the mexican war under that flag, a similar record was

true of other southern born officers who chose to go with the confederacy. ferigate had been born and raised in tennessee, had married a woman from virginia. after his first wife died he married another virginia woman in 1843. when he was not at sea he lived in norfolk. he had a brother in new orleans and a sister in mississippi. as a sectional conflict heated up he said to friends in virginia, god forbit i should ever have to raise my hand against the south. but when abraham lincoln called out the militia after the confederates attacked fort sumter he expressed approval. his virginia neighbors told him anyone holding this opinion

could not continue to live in norfolk. well, then, i can live somewhere else. he decided to move to new york. he told his wife this act of mine may cause years of separation from your family so you must decide quickly whether you will go north or remain here. she went with him. as they prepared to leave, the thin lipped ferigate offered a few parting words to his virginia friends. you fellows will catch the devil before you get through with this business. and as matters turned out they caught a good many devils from ferigate himself. a law passed by the u.s. congress in 1861 gave secretary of the navy, gideon wells authority to ignore the rule of seniority of making promotions during the civil war.

wells was quick to rule out dead wood in the senior ranks of captains in the u.s. navy in order to promote younger and promising officers over their heads. although he was 60 years old in 1861 he had the vigor and ambition of a younger man. he stood 37th in seniority on the captain's list. he was respected by many of his fellow officers but virtually unknown to the public in the beginning of 1862 when wells appointed him commander of the west gulf squadron whose task would be to blockade the coast from florida to texas on the mexican border but also to capture new orleans and gain control of the lower mississippi valley. at the time many in the north wondered at wells' selection for

this effort. as the naval secretary, wells wrote in his famous war time diary neither the president nor any member of the cabinet knew ferigate or of him. members of congress inquired who he was and some of them were monstrated and questioned whether i was not making a mistake for he was a southern man and had a southern life. but wells knew about his expressions of unionism when he moved from norfolk to new york. and wells was willing to gamble on his loyalty as well as his ability. rarely in the history of naval warfare has a gamble paid off so handsomely. he began building up his fleet for his first objective, to capture new orleans. the confederacy's leading port and largest city and the gateway

to the artery that carried much of the south's life blood, the mississippi river. after considerable effort he got his fleet of 21 steam sloops and gun boats across the bar, his southwest pass of the mississippi where it emptyiniie into the gulf of mexico in march, 1862. they were supported by 20 schooners modified and strengthened to carry a mortar to fire at two forts flanking the mississippi, forts jackson and st. phillipe. tonight these forts mounted 126 big sea coast guns, most of them bearing on the river to try to blow out of the water any fleet attempting to come up the river. in addition the confederates

have put together a fleet of eight gun boats from river steam boats, one small iron clad and another large but uncompleted iron clad, the css louisiana which had its guns in place but didn't have the engines in working order so it was anchored near the forts as a floating battery. the fleet was supported by an army of 15,000 union soldiers commanded by major general benjamin butler, probably not much of a military asset for the union effort. and, indeed, the public expected the navy to do the heavy work, just as a fleet had done at port royal, south carolina, five months earlier. iowa senator james grimes, a member of the senate committee on naval affairs told assistant

secretary of the navy, fox, the country looks to the navy. don't wait for the army. take new orleans and hold it until the army comes up. and that's exactly how it happened. the schooners commanded by foster brother, commander david dixon porter were towed into position on april 18 to begin bombarding the forts. over the next six days and nights they lobbed thousands of shells into damage but knocking out a few of the guns. ferigate decided to run his ships past the forts in the predawn darkness of april 24. this was not a popular decision among his captains who had in the words of one of them, little

or no feeling of success. for his part, though, he wrote to his wife success is the only thing listened to in this war. and i know i must sink or swim by that rule. as to being prepared for defeat i certainly am not. any man who is prepared for defeat would be half defeated before he commenced. on april 22, ferigate called for a meeting of his captains to plan the attack. in military annals it was preverbial that counsels of war never fight but this one proved to be an exception. after he outlined his plans for running past the forts in the darkness he invited the response of his captains as one of them wrote, the prevailing opinions seem to be adverse to making the

attempt to pass the forts at that time, that it was prematu e premature, that the forts had not been reduced and that the risk of the loss of too many vessels was too great to be run. but ferigate pointed out the mortars would exhaust the ammunition. it was now or never and concluded with the words, i believe in solarity. now, you heard about stone wall jackson this morning who also believed in solarity. that, too, was ferigate's hall mark. how many times would you have heard that from union army commanders at this stage of the war? maybe from one other whose name last name has five letters starting with g. but not from most of the others.

but it was becoming a slogan of the navy and especially of ferigate. at 2:00 a.m. on april 24, 17 of his ships carrying guns began moving upriver. with the flagship, the uss hartford in the middle of fleet. the mortar fleet and the five gun boats that towed them stayed behind to keep down the fire of the forts while the ships of the three divisions also opened fire as they approached the forts. these forts began firing on the ships as they approached. as the first ships got through the confederate gun boats also engaged. in this melee scores of shells were in the air and exploding at the same time in what was surely

the most spectacular fireworks display in american history to that time. the captain of the gun boat that first passed the forts described his experience in his official report. we were struck from stem to stern. at length we were up close with st. phillipe when we opened with grape and canister. scarcely -- this was hot but more congenial work. three of the gun boats converged hoping to ram and border. the 11 inch gun fired on one of them at 30 yards distance. the effect was very destructive wrote the captain. he immediately sheered in shore, ran aground and burned himself

up. two other union gun boats emerged as several converging vessels. the enemy was so thick it was like duck shooting. what missed one rebel hit another. with their aid, that is the aid of the other two union ships we cleared the kitchen but not before two of the confederate ships ran and sank the uss vuruina which turned out to be the only vessel lost in farragut's fleet. on the hard ft farragut climbed the fort to get above the rising smoke from the guns for a better view of what was happening. holding on he stood there as cool as if leaning against a mantle in his own house.

farragut's signaling offer pleaded with him to come down. they'll get you up there, sure. farragut finally climbed down. as he reached the deck a shell exploded where he had been standing just a moment before. on deck of the hartford during much of this action was the fleet surgeon who made notes in real time in a little notebook strapped to his wrist to write up later in his journal. i cannot and will not attempt a description of this trying scene, he wrote. but then proceeded to do so. the den, the roar, the crash, the whistling, the shrieks of the wounded and dying was a scene which has never been surpassed. a magazine in fort jackson exploded. the river was filled with