International African American Museum

Proposed publicly by former Charleston mayor Joe Riley more than 20 years ago, and championed by Congressman Jim Clyburn, the nation’s second largest African American museum finally opened last summer. To symbolize the sacredness of its location on Gadsden’s Wharf, a place where African captives arrived by the thousands, the International African American Museum (IAAM) is elevated 13 feet above the ground. The experience of visiting kicks off in the African Ancestors Memorial Garden, designed by landscape architect and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Walter Hood, with installations such as “Tide Tribute,” a fountain of water washing over a replica of the horrifically cruel “Brookes” slave ship diagram, honoring its human cargo. Inside, a glassed entrance opens to 8-foot screens flashing faces of the African Diaspora and pre-colonial landscapes, teasing the expansive interactive journey of tragedy and triumph that unfolds over the museum’s 22,280-plus-square-foot gallery space. Core exhibits include “African Roots/African Routes” which explores pre-enslavement origins in West and West Central Africa, while “Carolina Gold/Memories of the Enslaved” delves into the Lowcountry’s past. All told, the collection features more than 150 artifacts, 30 works of art, and nearly 50 films. Connecting past and future on a more personal level, the IAAM’s Center for Family History also offers genealogy services and records oral histories.

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