The Anacostia Community Museum (known colloquially as the ACM) is a

community museum A community museum is a museum serving as an exhibition and gathering space for specific identity groups or geographic areas. In contrast to traditional museums, community museums are commonly multidisciplinary, and may simultaneously exhibit the ...

in the

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is na ...

neighborhood of

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, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is one of twenty museums under the umbrella of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

and was the first federally funded community museum in the United States. The museum, founded in 1967, was created with the intention to bring aspects of the Smithsonian museums, located on the National Mall, to the Anacostia neighborhood, with the hope that community members from the neighborhood would visit the main Smithsonian museums. It became federally funded in 1970 and focuses on the community in and around Anacostia in its exhibitions. This museum also houses a library.

History

Origins

The Anacostia Community Museum was originally described as "an experimental store-front museum" by the Smithsonian Institution in 1966. Smithsonian Secretary

S. Dillon Ripley S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

intended for the museum to serve as an outreach opportunity to bring more African Americans to the National Mall to visit Smithsonian museums. The idea, which rose from a Smithsonian-hosted conference in 1966, came into reality in March 1967, when the Smithsonian acquired the Carver Theater in the

neighborhood. The Smithsonian sought community support, and a council of local Anacostia residents came together to advise on the project.

John Kinard John Robert Edward Kinard (November 22, 1936 – August 5, 1989) was an American social activist, pastor, and museum director. He is best known as the director of the Anacostia Museum, a small community museum founded by the Smithsonian Instit ...

was appointed director of the museum in June 1967. A pastor and activist during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, Kinard was heavily involved in the Anacostia neighborhood, and he made sure that the young people of the neighborhood were involved in the creation of the museum.Corsane, 375. Every week, the museum's Neighborhood Advisory CommitteeCorsane, 380. of community members would meet to help plan the programming and exhibitions. Staff and community members worked side by side to change the building from a defunct movie theater into an exhibition space. The community also assisted in choosing what objects would be displayed. The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum opened on September 15, 1967. The museum had eight staff members, and only one was permanent. There were no curators or researchers or librarians.Corsane, 376. A life-size

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

model of a '' Tricerotops'', which in 1968 would appear as "'' Uncle Beazley''" in the children's television movie, ''The Enormous Egg'', and which is now near Lemur Island in the National Zoological Park (the National Zoo), attended the museum's opening. In 1968, the museum hired a staff photographer and a photography lab was opened on site. The museum would not become part of the Smithsonian Institution's federal budget until 1970. That year, the Anacostia Research Center was founded, with funding from the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, to create an oral history program. The museum hired its first historian, Louise Daniel Hutchinson, in 1971. By 1972, the museum had ten full-time, permanent staff members, working within three departments: director's office, education, and a research and exhibitions department. The museum found it challenging to incorporate the community into its planning processes as it grew larger, and more developed processes formed to incorporate the community into exhibits. The Neighborhood Advisory Committee, which consisted of ninety people, was cut down in size and renamed the Board of Directors. John Kinard at New Anacostia Museum

The Exhibits Design and Production Laboratory, located at

Fort Stanton Fort Stanton was a United States Army fort near Lincoln, New Mexico. Army Fort It was built in 1855 by the 1st Dragoon and the 3rd and 8th Infantry Regiments to serve as a base of military operations against the Mescalero Apaches. Numerous ca ...

, was opened in October 1974. It was there where preparations for a new museum building took place. In 1976, it suffered a fire after

masonite Masonite is a type of hardboard, a kind of engineered wood, which is made of steam-cooked and pressure-molded wood fibers in a process patented by William H. Mason. It is also called Quartrboard, Isorel, hernit, karlit, torex, treetex, and ...

sheets fell from a forklift, and into a container of

lacquer thinner Lacquer thinner, also known as cellulose thinner, is usually a mixture of solvents able to dissolve a number of different resins or plastics used in modern lacquer. Previously, lacquer thinners frequently contained alkyl esters like butyl or amyl ...

. Staff were unable to call for help due to the fire damaging the phone lines. The damage cost approximately $75,000 and no one was injured. The museum became the first Smithsonian museum to use labels for the

hearing impaired Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken la ...

in their exhibitions, in 1980. An

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

devoted to the area of Anacostia was created in 1977. The new Anacostia Museum was opened on May 17, 1987, located at Fort Stanton. The name change stemmed from the change in the museum's mission, to celebrate African American history not only in Anacostia, but around the world. Long-time director John Kinard died in 1989.

After John Kinard

Steven Newsome, a professional librarian, became the new museum director in 1991, the same year the museum established its own library. The museum went through another name change, in 1995, becoming the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture. Its intent was to serve as the location for the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in December 2003 and opened its permanent home in ...

. During Newsome's tenure the museum underwent an $8.5 million renovation. In 2004 Newsome retired, with James Early becoming acting director. Once more, the museum decided to change its mission, to focus specifically on Anacostia communities, and changed its name to the Anacostia Community Museum in 2006. That year,

Camille Akeju Camille Giraud Akeju is American curator and educator. She is the former director of the Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, D.C. Biography Camille Akeju grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. She attended college in Jacksonville University ...

became the director. With the arrival of Akeju, the museum's exhibition process changed, removing the community-driven exhibition process, which allowed community members to submit proposals for exhibitions. The process is now curator-focused, with exhibition concepts being chosen by staff.

Architecture

The Fort Stanton building, which opened in 1987, was designed by Keyes Condon Florance, Architrave, and Wisnewski Blair Associates. The design, based on the "cultural expressionism style", aimed to make use of the natural setting it resides in. The building exterior is made of red brick motifs reflecting

kente cloth Kente ( ak, kente or ''nwetoma''; ee, kete; Dagbani: Chinchini) refers to a Ghanaian textile, made of handwoven cloth, strips of silk and cotton. Historically the fabric was worn in a toga-like fashion by royalty among ethnic groups such as the ...

. Cylinders made of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

with glass blocks and blue tile sit in the facade of the building. The cylinders pull influence from the ruins of

Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwi and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom during the country's Late Iron Age about which little is known. Con ...

. Large picture windows reside at the entrance. In March 2019 the museum closed for a $4.5 million renovation. It reopened in October 2019.

Collections

ACM did not have a permanent collection until the late 1970s. The museum was not allowed to build such a collection by the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian lacked in its collections related to African American history and culture, and John Kinard helped encourage other museums to start acquiring objects, such as artwork and pieces owned by

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

.Corsane, 384. In 1977 the museum was able to start building its permanent collection. The museum library was established in 1991. It wasn't until 1992 that ACM created its first collections management policy, specifying a focus on the Anacostia neighborhood and surrounding areas. The museum was donated the archives of

Lorenzo Dow Turner Lorenzo Dow Turner (August 21, 1890 – February 10, 1972) was an African-American academic and linguist who did seminal research on the Gullah language of the Low Country of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. His studies included recordings of G ...

, in 2003, by his wife, Lois Turner Williams. In 2010, an exhibition ''Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Dow Turner, Connecting Communities Through Language,'' was held to showcase the collection. The museum also has a collection of art including work by artists such as James A. Porter,

Sam Gilliam Sam Gilliam ( ; November 30, 1933 – June 25, 2022) was an American color field painter and lyrical abstractionist artist. Gilliam was associated with the Washington Color School, a group of Washington, D.C.-area artists that developed a form ...

, and

Benny Andrews Benny Andrews (November 13, 1930 – November 10, 2006) was an African-American artist, activist and educator. Born in Plainview, Georgia, Andrews earned a BFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1958, and soon after m ...

Exhibitions

Exhibit The Rat - Man's Invited Affliction

Throughout its history, the museum's exhibitions have reflected the community of Anacostia, Washington, D.C., and often concerns seen throughout urban communities in the United States. African American history and art has also been showcased in exhibitions, including subjects such as immigration,

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, civil rights, and music. The opening exhibition at the museum, in 1967, featured the reproduction of an Anacostia store front from 1890, a

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

spacecraft, a theater, a small zoo, and a varied collection of natural history objects. The small zoo featured a

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...

, named George, which was a gift from the National Zoo. George died in April, 1977. Other early exhibitions at the museum, when it was still called the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, included 1969's ''The Rat: Man's Invited Affliction,'' which examined rat infestations. The museum's bicentennial exhibition, ''Blacks in the Western Movement,'' focused on the stories of African Americans who explored and settled the

American west The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. The exhibition traveled nationwide and was made into a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

. These early exhibitions, which often consisted of panel displays, were called "pasteboard exhibits," by director

. Community members in the early years frequently helped put together the exhibitions, along with staff such as exhibit designer James E. Mayo.Corsane, 379. ACM started working with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) to create traveling exhibitions, which were the first major African American themed exhibitions at the Smithsonian. In 1977 the exhibition ''The Anacostia Story'' exhibited the history of the neighborhood from 1608 to 1930.

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

, who lived in Anacostia, was the focus of ''The Frederick Douglass Years.'' The 1979 exhibition ''Out of Africa: From West African Kingdoms to Colonization'' was the first to make use of the museum's budding permanent collection, and

Chancellor Williams Chancellor Williams (December 22, 1893 – December 7, 1992) was an American sociologist, historian and writer. He is noted for his work on African civilizations prior to encounters with Europeans; his major work is ''The Destruction of Black Civ ...

lectured. The museum closed for little over two months in, from November until January, 1980, re-opening with the exhibition '' Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South.'' To celebrate the

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

of the birth of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, the Smithsonian organized an institution wide series of events, with ACN organizing ''

Mary McLeod Bethune Mary Jane McLeod Bethune ( McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, Womanism, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established th ...

and Roosevelt's Black Cabinet.''

Mercer Ellington Mercer Kennedy Ellington (March 11, 1919 – February 8, 1996) was an American musician, composer, and arranger. His father was Duke Ellington, whose band Mercer led for 20 years after his father's death. Biography Early life and education Ellin ...

, the son of

, filmed a

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

for the exhibition ''The Renaissance: Black Arts of the '20s''. ACM focused on Washington, D.C.'s role in equal and civil rights in ''To Achieve These Rights: The Struggle for Equal Rights and Self-Determination in the District of Columbia, 1791-1978.'' The Washington region was a focus again with ''Footsteps from North Brentwood,'' which discussed the history of

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. In 2006, the ACM exhibition ''Reclaiming Midwives: Pillars of Community Support,'' discussed the roles of

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; con ...

in African American communities. ACM partnered with the Mexican Cultural Institute to produce ''The African Presence in Mexico.'' The 2010 exhibition ''Word, Shout and Song'' examined the work of

and the

Gullah The Gullah () are an African Americans, African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, within the coastal plain ...

language.

Education

The museum began offering accredited education courses with teachers in 1977. The Museum Education Department also publishes history publications about African American history. In 1987 the ACM created the Museum Academy Program. The program focuses on working with local children throughout the year.

References

Citations

Sources

* Marsh, Caryl. "A Neighborhood Museum That Works." ''Museum News''. October, 1968: 11-16. * Corsane, Gerard. ''Heritage, Museums and Galleries: An Introductory Reader.'' London: Routledge (2005).

External links

Anacostia Community Museum
Official website
Anacostia Community Museum Library
Official website {{Authority control African-American museums in Washington, D.C. Anacostia Community museums in the United States History museums in Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Institution museums