and behind me is constitution avenue. on the floor there are four exhibitions. on an export themes of community. from very small places and neighborhoods, exhibition you topics andto large themes of communicate such as the military. and national belonging. the military exhibition, the military history exhibition is to my right. to sports fans and communities created through sports. that is to my left and right. it is called leveling the playing field. the blue that tied the galleries together is making a way out of nowhere.

it is a central organizing and some ways spiritual concept of -- for african-american history and culture. this exhibition focuses on improvementor through education. throughes for equality politics and protest. integration in some respect. it looks that religion, community, it looks at politics and it looks at individuals and communities. that is the skin of what we're looking at. now you are in my exhibition called the power of place. sydow, he will talk for an hour --sit down, he will talk for an hour! [laughter] >> what do we mean by place?

for our museum it is crucially important that we let people know that african-american history is broad and wide. we need to find a way to in all of its geographic diversity. places more than that. place is something we all feel and have it laces emotional and places of memory. what we have done here is we have identified 10 unique places across time, across regions. ant we give people into immersive way. rocks in the 1970's looking at the development of the bronx. hip-hop. chicago, chicago and the chicago defender in the 1930's and 40's and looking at the making of a black metropolis to tulsa, oklahoma in 1921.

and look at the resilience of african-american communities of greenwood in response to one of the most devastating race riots in our country's history. intois what we draw people , intimate stories that humanize the big stories. in the middle, we have a central place. where after you look at a few of help visitorses, placingabout displacement. stories about movement and migration. a lot of the stores will be driven by people themselves. the heart of it will be a interactive digital cable that will be crowd sourced with stories of their own places that will continually refreshed and reload.

it will help us to bring that sense of both diversity and uniqueness but also that sense emotionalismss and that we want to bring to all corners of the museum. >> watch yourself here. we will talk to everything from the role of african-americans in the olympics, football, basketball, tennis, golf. the most important thing, much like the way we talk about military chemical, unwanted and you will explore this because you like sports and want to see jackie robinson or tiger woods, but for us, the real story is what is the meaning of sport? how is it used to integrate america? how is it used as a that if i could run a fast heart kept as well that equality would follow?

while this is about wonderful athletics, it is about moments that helped transform america and that is one of the objects, where the images he will see, there be a statue here of the 1968 lakh paralympics -- black power olympics. about athletic achievement and consequences. i will take you to baseball to see how we do certain things. stay with me. >> these are carl lewis's medals. from los angeles. barcelona, atlanta as well.

>> in addition to seeing all the wonderful material, what you have is, this is the wall of game changers. the notion is, here are people whose athletic achievement transcended sports. player,merican football an actor and activist. when we talk about title ix, the impact of title ix on women and what that meant for women athletics, the harlem globetrotters. it's about trying to give you more detail. goes into ae different sport. we will cut to baseball on our way up to the fourth floor. be careful as we walk. again, always thinking a

different way to engage and entertain. with baseball, baseball stadium. get to sit and watch film footage. also an example of the kind of vistas we have. moments where you can see where you are and see it various stages, information that will tell you not just what you are looking at, but what was once there. you begin to see the evolution of the mall.we won't go to the elevator and get to the fourth four. the last stop and we will divide the group and i will go with the first group and then we will talk about what is going on there. let's step just inside. joanne is a curator of cultural expression, the exhibit we are in. this is a floor that speaks about the impact of culture on

two levels. one is creativity that african-americans brought to the also,al production but how culture is a bulwark that helps people survive, helps people grapple with discrimination. helps people find joined in the most difficult times. in essence, this is a place of thatration, also a place helps us understand how people believe in a better day when they should not have believed in a better day. on the fifth four. the highest floor of the exhibition gallery. there are four culture dollars on this floor for different aspects of african-american culture. a visual arts gallery which takes you through a journey arough african american -- the production of artnd in the gallery of musical crossroads

and journey through the different genres of music that african americans have produced. from the moment he came here as enslaved africans to the transatlantic slave trade envoy to the present day, they are taking the stage house set african-americans and peter and builds in television and the struggles for control over their representation in those forms. and the achievements. there's also cultural expression. ands at cultural traits titus is that some people think are identifiable with african-americans. you will learn about soul food and social dance and speech patterns and looks at body language but we are trying to expand your awareness of what is considered african-american culture. when you go to the production, he will not just learn about soul food, you also learn about other cuisines that african americans contributed to the development because we are

always in everyone's kitchen. you will see hercules, george washington cook and was a celebrated french chef. you learn about thomas downey who owned a fine seafood dining joint in new york. and a lot of people associate fashion with african american. -- african american hip-hop. and you learn about the person accreted jackie kennedy's wedding dress. you will learn about arthur mcgee, one of the first fashion designers to break the color ba rrier. england about the all-black world of fashion -- and you will learn about the all-black world of fashion during segregation. they had harlan fashion week. fashion designers who are household names within the communities. if you look at the top of the poster, it should look familiar to you.

is a sculpture of a craftsman whose work is renowned for the area of africa in a generic, no prescribed worship. they hold of platforms and kings one of the it is source of that inspired the shape of this building. it is there to speak to how much stilln traits are existing here the night states. and a source for racial pride as they secrete music and poetry, you'll see examples of that. do, if i would like to you want to talk about your gallery? >> you can go ahead. >> i come here and hang out. a circle. -- it is so cool. >> i can speak about the linkage.

therefore section the scholar. , but thatanguage everything from differently which is that african americans spoke and slang and african american english vernacular, it looks out the fact that language differs depending on where you lived in the united states and was used for multiple purposes including liberation. there are these great debaters, where hbcus trained this students to master the art of stereotypes.eat and also looked at by djs and how they created communities by black language. a political rhetoric like malcolm x. and martin luther king and how they used clinical

speech as a tool for liberation. -- political speech is a tool for liberation. fashion looks at more than disclosing, also hair. and the struggle to move away from the idea that straight hair was better hitter or that straight hair was compared to adopt a more natural styles and being proud of curly natural hair on african american communities and image of identity. we have all seen pictures of marian anderson when she sang at the lincoln memorial. that was the color. she wore that color. this is what she wore when she sang. you can imagine the array of musical talent we are going to

talk about. a ray charles material, michael challenge -- michael jackson fedora. whitney houston stress. -- houston's dress. influence,have any but this is earth wind and fire, my favorite. [laughter] we have material from kool and the gang. what is so powerful about this, again, the biggest challenge of the museum was building the collection and the staff has done such a good job being able to find this amazing material and so i want you to get a quick look at this. this is music. when this is done, there will be a dance floor, he will be a will to go in and will be surrounded by screens giving you some of the greatest performances of african-american musical history dance, youwant to

will luta dance. if you want to dance like i do, you will be watching other people. what we have, this is the penultimate stop. this is a guy who looks at film, theater, has amazing things. when you think of the struggle to present images of african americans that were not just stereotypical. we play a lot of that out. when you come here, be careful. and i, costumes, want to show you my favorite artifact in the full gallery. what would have a lot of amazing things, from film and television, this is one of the rarest of things we have. from 1867, a playbill

were ira aldridge is playing othello for the first time. he had to leave the country into the performance for a week. the first person who was black othello.e -- played it is simple, but i think it is one of the great stories. it is in the theatre royal, not manchester, where is the city? newcastle, there it is. part of the cool stuff you will this as some of my favorite

stuff. costumes from colored girls. one of the joys, collection of african films. when my areas of interest. amazingable to get an collection of movie posters. michellen early oscar poster from the 1920's. this is part of our job, to help people relearn history they think they know. that movie poster from spencer williams. one of the most impo