National Museum of African American History and Culture

About this museum

There are institutions that aspire to tell the full story of a people, and there are those that actually succeed. The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is the latter - a place so ambitious in scope, so meticulous in curation, and so emotionally honest in execution that it has become one of the most visited and highly regarded museums in the United States. With nearly 30, 200 reviews averaging an exceptional 4.8 stars, it has earned that distinction many times over.Designed by David Adjaye and opened in 2016, the museum's bronze latticed exterior - inspired by the ironwork crafted by enslaved African Americans in the antebellum South - announces its intentions before you even step inside. The building itself is a piece of cultural argument, rooted in the earth of the Mall and rising toward the sky. Inside, twelve floors of galleries take visitors from the hold of a slave ship through the plantations of the antebellum South, through emancipation and Reconstruction, through the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement, and into the contemporary moment. Artifacts range from a 19th - century slave cabin transported and reassembled within the museum to Harriet Tubman's hymnal to Chuck Berry's Cadillac.The Smithsonian's signature free admission applies here, though timed - entry passes are recommended and often required due to the museum's enormous popularity. Passes are available through nmaahc.si.edu. The museum is located at 1400 Constitution Avenue NW and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10AM to 5:30PM, with Monday hours from 12PM to 5:30PM. Plan for at least three to four hours - the collection rewards unhurried attention.