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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJohn Lewis spent 15 years fighting for the museum — now the dream is realized
By John Lewis September 15
I first learned there was an effort to establish a national museum dedicated to preserving African American history and culture during my first term in Congress after being elected in 1986. My colleague Rep. Mickey Leland (D-Tex.) discovered that the most recent legislative efforts had run aground a few years earlier because of an attempt by Rep. Clarence Brown (R-Ohio) and Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) to take the project to Wilberforce, Ohio. Mickey resurrected the idea and asked me to co-sponsor it in 1988.
I have loved history ever since I was a boy. It started when I was so young. To celebrate Carter G. Woodsons innovation then called Negro History Week and now called Black History Month my teachers would ask us to cut out pictures in magazines and newspapers of famous African Americans, such as Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver. Growing up in Alabama near Tuskegee Institute, reading about Carver and Booker T. Washington, attending Fisk University later with its world-class art collection and Jubilee Singers who had sung for Queen Victoria, I knew the power of legacy. Mickey did not have to ask me twice. I was on board to push the museum bill through.
Unfortunately, he was killed in a plane crash less than a year later. So the baton was passed to me. I introduced the museum bill in every session of Congress for 15 years. I got it through the House in 1994, but Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) mounted a filibuster against the bill. My Senate partners asked to meet in my office one day. They said, John, we have the votes to get this through the Senate, but we just dont have anything to trade Jesse. That push did not lead to passage, but I had gotten closer than I ever had before.
Giving up on dreams is not an option for me. Optimism is essential to the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence, so hope in the face of challenge is the only alternative I see. I knew that if I was persistent and consistent, I would at least play my role well in this effort, but at most I could win a victory for humanity.
-snip-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/john-lewis-spent-15-years-fighting-for-the-museum--now-the-dream-is-realized/2016/09/14/eeb0ca10-64bb-11e6-96c0-37533479f3f5_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
s-cubed
(1,385 posts)SunSeeker
(51,367 posts)I wish I could go!
BumRushDaShow
(127,270 posts)And donated for it multiple times (charter member). Hoping to get down there at some point (I know one of my BILs definitely wants to go)!
FAR far far too long time coming but glad it will open before the conclusion of a Presidency that was one dream realized!
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)And I hope all DUers share their experiences.
Gothmog
(143,998 posts)s-cubed
(1,385 posts)I'm glad it joins the other museums. We need to confront our history - how much our nation depended on the labor of slaves.
asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)PBS for all to see - many of us will be able to go to the Museum - but many won't...just sayin' -
Hopefully they made a film from start to finish while in contruction..up to opening day..
John Lewis, sir, thank you - and keep dancing in the hallways of congress...
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)To the Museum. Thought it was a great show. Think it aired last Monday