And The Walls Came Tumblin’ Down

GREAT MUSEUMS is at work documenting the creation of the last museum to be built on our National Mall. Construction of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (SNMAAHC) began in 2012. The new museum is scheduled to open in 2015.

In May 2013, GREAT MUSEUMS traveled to Edisto Island to document the physical acquisition of the slave cabin. The cabin was taken down board by board, catalogued and numbered, stacked, wrapped and loaded onto a flatbed trailer. The singing began as everyone present participated in the dismantling of the last wall.

Click to learn more the building of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Point of Pines Slave Cabin project.

Read about Oprah Winfrey’s support of the museum here in The New York Times.

THE FINAL WALL

SNMAAHC Curator Nancy Bercaw and Researcher Mary Elliott prepare to remove a hand-hewn stud from the cabin’s last wall.

MUSEUM RESOURCES STAFF AT WORK

THERESA JENKINS HILLIARD/b>

After Emancipation, her Edisto Island ancestors, the Hutchinsons, were instrumental in helping newly freed people transition from slavery to free labor.

KERRY SHACKELFORD

Owner, Museum Resources

Based in Williamsburg, he specializes in restoration and relocation of historic properties.

MARY ELLIOTT

Researcher, NMAAHC

NANCY BERCAW

Curator, NMAAHC

“Up until the Black Shadow, motorcycles were really bicycles that had been motorized,” says director Glenn Lowry. “Vincent Black Shadow no longer has anything to do with a bicycle. It’s now about a highly refined machine for speed.”

TONI CARRIER

Director, Low Country Africana

Based in Charleston, LCA is dedicated to researching genealogy of African Americans in the historic rice-growing areas of the Low Country.

JUNIOR MEGGET

Mr. Megget’s aunt and uncle lived in this cabin. His family lived two cabins down.