And it started as a vision more
than two decades ago, and today,
the International African Amerin
Museum in Charleston becomes a reality.
News 19's Darcy Strickland
takes us inside at some of what
you can see when you visit.
The moment you walk into the International
African American Museum in Charleston,
you will know that this is going to be
unlike anything you've ever seen before.
Museum Director Dr.
Tonya Matthews takes us through
exhibits that will leave
visitors with a mix of emotions,
as personal experiences will color the
way each individual sees the exhibits.
Where you are right now is
the Gullah Geechee Gallery.
Now, I would argue that every
American History Museum ought
to have a little bit of gull.
But here, of course in Charlestn
and in the heart of the Low Cou,
we are still arguably the hub of
this culture and this community.
And so it allows us to create
essentially a living history gay
and tell the story about the incredible
influence of this particular
community of African Americans
that's still here and thriving,
that really was able to hold on
to our W African roots and has
infused through everything thate
now refer to as Southern cultur.
You don't have to go into the mm
to learn about some of the darkt
moments of history in South Carolina.
Even the land it sits on
holds historical significance.
The building stands 13
feet over Gadsden's Wharf,
the port of arrival for almost f
of all enslaved Africans brought
to America. The historic record tells us
that in the early 1800s a particularly
cold winter came through and the
were upwards of 700 souls beingd
simply waiting for their price to go up,
and they died waiting.
Our storage house was one of the
spaces where individuals were kept and
perished waiting for their price to go up.
But the way we decided to intert
that space is there's a A1 dimensional
brick outline that shows you
where the storage house was.
And then cutting across that brick outline,
you've got 2 black granite wall,
the interior polished so smooth,
you can see your reflection in the walls.
There's a series of hunch kneelg
figures within those two walls,
obviously representing those that we lost.
But as those figures get closer
and closer to the water,
they appear to be emerging
out of the concrete.
And then on the outside of that space,
we've inscribed the Maya Angelou poem,
And still I Rise.
So it's always all woven in there together,
never just one emotion when
it comes to our stories.
The museum began as a vision and
former Charleston Mayor Joe Ril,
State of the City address 23 years ago.
It took us a long time to get h.
The vision and the themes that you see
now is not actually how we started out.
That started out because we had
conversation after conversationd
talked to community after commu,
and that's how the picture got bigger and
bigger and bigger and we still of course,
can't tell it all.
You cannot fit an entire culture
inside any History Museum,
even if you are the second largest of your
kind in the country.
So we have a gallery,
South Carolina Connections.
You know, the International Afrn
American Museum is a national
African American History Museum
with an international lead.
But we understand who the home team is.
And the more I read, the more I learn,
the more I also realize that may
of the stories that I know have
roots right here in South Carol.
We of course have modern living history.
And Congressman Jim Clyburn,
though, some folks forget just
how much history he made at
the beginning of his term.
So we put him in there,
but then we have.
Gibson We have Dizzy Gillespie.
We have Ronald McNair.
These are stories that people k,
names they're familiar with,
but may not quite
understand that their roots
are here in South Carolina.
That looks absolutely incredibl.
The museum is home to 12 permant
exhibitions that include nine galleries.
According to the museum
tickets for today's opening,
they're already sold out.