America I Am

To me the exhibit "America I Am" means that African-Americans have had a huge role in shaping American history and culture and that America would be very different without African-Americans. I can infer this because it started with the  first slaves coming over then progressed through history with landmarks such as the Great Migration, Martin Luther King leading the civil right movement, Brown vs Board of Education, and Shirley Chisholm running for president. The final room (not counting the movie) was a tribute to African-Americans that had an impact on American culture; from Jackie Robinson to Louis Armstrong.

The exhibit was interesting. It was well paced and each section made sense in the context of the exhibit. Certain parts, like the church and slave ship were made to look like the real environment which was interesting. There was always a picture, movie, or primary source to look at so you never got bored. Um... I can't really think of a con, but the gift shop selection was pretty sparse. ;)

America I Am meaning

To us the exhibit tile "America I Am" means that all ethnicities are apart of America. In the context of the exhibit it means that African Americans have played a large part of American culture. We know this because the exhibit showed major roles played by the African Americans in history such as the Cincinnati Brigade who fought in the cvil war for the Union, and Shirley Chisholm, who was the first black presidential candidate and the first black congressman.

In general we think the exhibit was well done and interesting. It had a variety of media so you where never reading or looking at pictures to much. They had many interesting artifacts that helped illustrate the main point of the exhibit. The way they decorated certain sections in a way that it looked like the setting such as the slave trade fortress. The exhibit was interesting and we enjoyed although they could have marked each section with a title that was shown.