--- title: President Obama at African American History Museum: Speech description: President Barack Obama spoke at the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Here is the full transcript canonical: https://time.com/4506800/barack-obama-african-american-history-museum-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-24T20:07:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:48:38.766Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Obama's Speech at the Museum of African American History and Culture og:description: "This museum tells the story of so many patriots" og:url: https://time.com/4506800/barack-obama-african-american-history-museum-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f77226a40a85c99/6988a760cf40a8dfb3c44f04/barack-obama-museum-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: National Museum Of African American History And Culture Opens In Washington, D.C. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Obama's Speech at the Museum of African American History and Culture twitter:description: "This museum tells the story of so many patriots" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f77226a40a85c99/6988a760cf40a8dfb3c44f04/barack-obama-museum-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Speech at the Museum of African American History and Culture  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 24, 2016 8:07 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks at the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama speaks at the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C.Astrid Riecken/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 24, 2016 8:07 PM UTC President Barack Obama on Saturday [spoke at the dedication](http://time.com/4506699/president-obama-opening-smithsonian-museum-african-american-history/?xid=homepage) of the new [Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture](http://time.com/4487318/smithsonian-museum-african-american-history-culture/), praising the coexistence of “protest and love of country” and making reference to recent examples of racial tension in the U.S. “This is the place to understand how protest and love of country don’t merely coexist but inform each other, how men can proudly win the gold for their country but still insist on raising a black-gloved fist, how we can wear an ‘I can’t breathe’ T-shirt and still grieve for fallen police officers,” Obama said. Here are his full remarks from the ceremony on the National Mall: --- > “” --- President Obama at African American History Museum: Speech ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4506800/barack-obama-african-american-history-museum-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4506800/barack-obama-african-american-history-museum-transcript/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Speech at the Museum of African American History and Culture","datePublished":"2016-09-24T20:07:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:48:38.766Z","description":"\"This museum tells the story of so many patriots\"","url":"https://time.com/4506800/barack-obama-african-american-history-museum-transcript/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","museums","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f77226a40a85c99/6988a760cf40a8dfb3c44f04/barack-obama-museum-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f77226a40a85c99/6988a760cf40a8dfb3c44f04/barack-obama-museum-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"National Museum Of African American History And Culture Opens In Washington, D.C.","caption":"National Museum Of African American History And Culture Opens In Washington, D.C.","creditText":"Astrid Riecken/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4506800/barack-obama-african-american-history-museum-transcript/","name":"Read President Obama's Speech at the Museum of African American History and Culture"}}]}] ```