To the Editor:
Re “The Thorny Path to a National Black Museum” (front page, Jan. 23):
Thank you for your article about the planned National Museum of African American History and Culture. We have waited a long time for this landmark, and we need maximum transparency and inclusivity to get it right.
A modern museum must be more than a collector’s paradise and hangout for historians. Education and inspiration should be priority goals of the new museum.
The African kingdom design motif is interesting, but too traditional and classical. Why not a museum that mixes African origins with space age aspirations?
Internally, make it easy to move quickly from Timbuktu to the slave ships and the plantations, to the jazz of New Orleans and the hip-hop of the South Bronx, and to a political portrait of the Congressional Black Caucus.
A soul food research and innovation center incorporating African, Caribbean and Brazilian cuisine should operate a unique restaurant.
State-of-the-art technology should be incorporated. Exhibits and activities should be designed to appeal to children and college-age adults.
The horror of the struggle must be documented and explained. The hope must be magnified. The continuing theme must be that for the benefit of African-Americans and the rest of civilization, we shall continue to strive to overcome.
Major Owens
Brooklyn, Jan. 28, 2011The writer was a member of Congress from 1983 to 2007.
