Scoot your boots to Anacostia Museum
Post for Blog—going to the Anacostia Museum
Blazin’ hot Friday afternoon, escaping the city is a necessity. Too broke for a movie, too bored by the mall, I gunned Speedy-Speedy up Morris Street to my new favorite sanctuary: the Anacostia Museum for Black People. (Obviously not the official title. See for yourself: anacostia.si.edu).
An unlikely hideway? Aaahh, you’ve never been there, and until last summer, neither had I. Perched atop a hill on Fort Street SE, the Anacostia museum coolly snubs the frenetic sand-blasted sun-scorched National Mall and all the rushed confusion it stands for. Quiet. Relaxed. Green grass. You’re almost guaranteed a tourist-free experience. No bumbling children in matching neon yellow “I’m from Camp Nowhere” T-shirts, swinging digital cameras to put ya eye out, or families of 15 who stop dead in their tracks to learn to read a map. Nada! Just the nice guard, and an older couple who enjoyed that the museum is fully ADA compliant.
Of course the Important Museum People are a little upset by the fact that the doors of the museum open only about 10 times a day. Museums need people to keep them alive. No point in hanging a thing if no one’s going to look at it. Certainly they dream of the visitors the National Mall burps through the doors of the Air and Space, the American History Museum, and others.
But this is a museum for BLACK culture. Have you seen black culture in or near the Mall. So why have a museum there? It should be in Anacostia, around the corner from Freddy Doug’s house. If DC had a reservation, that’s where the gorgeous Museum for the American Indian should be. (That museum is an “I know there’s nothing that can make up for what we did, but please accept this as a gesture of…” if I’ve seen one.)
Plus, other Important DC People are struggling to get tourists unstuck from the sticky mouse trap that stretches from the Capitol the Monument. Metro is trying to be more friendly, so get on the bus and get your fanny pack across the River to see how DC really lives.
To see what? “Walls of Heritage, Walls of Pride,” an assembly of pics and pieces of art in public spaces around the country. Also, “African American Muslims in Early America.” Both interesting and engaging, I highly recommend checking them out. (I’m deliberately skimping on the details ‘cause I’m trying to get a review published in DC publication. Stay tuned for that adventure.)
Of course, my plug to get more folks to the museum potentially violates its sanctified nature. Yes, I contradict myself ("I don't need that now). But as I remember the fate of the City Museum (you probably don’t; it had a shorter life span than a five year old’s goldfish), I’m willing to sacrifice a little elbow room in the name of longevity.
Blazin’ hot Friday afternoon, escaping the city is a necessity. Too broke for a movie, too bored by the mall, I gunned Speedy-Speedy up Morris Street to my new favorite sanctuary: the Anacostia Museum for Black People. (Obviously not the official title. See for yourself: anacostia.si.edu).
An unlikely hideway? Aaahh, you’ve never been there, and until last summer, neither had I. Perched atop a hill on Fort Street SE, the Anacostia museum coolly snubs the frenetic sand-blasted sun-scorched National Mall and all the rushed confusion it stands for. Quiet. Relaxed. Green grass. You’re almost guaranteed a tourist-free experience. No bumbling children in matching neon yellow “I’m from Camp Nowhere” T-shirts, swinging digital cameras to put ya eye out, or families of 15 who stop dead in their tracks to learn to read a map. Nada! Just the nice guard, and an older couple who enjoyed that the museum is fully ADA compliant.
Of course the Important Museum People are a little upset by the fact that the doors of the museum open only about 10 times a day. Museums need people to keep them alive. No point in hanging a thing if no one’s going to look at it. Certainly they dream of the visitors the National Mall burps through the doors of the Air and Space, the American History Museum, and others.
But this is a museum for BLACK culture. Have you seen black culture in or near the Mall. So why have a museum there? It should be in Anacostia, around the corner from Freddy Doug’s house. If DC had a reservation, that’s where the gorgeous Museum for the American Indian should be. (That museum is an “I know there’s nothing that can make up for what we did, but please accept this as a gesture of…” if I’ve seen one.)
Plus, other Important DC People are struggling to get tourists unstuck from the sticky mouse trap that stretches from the Capitol the Monument. Metro is trying to be more friendly, so get on the bus and get your fanny pack across the River to see how DC really lives.
To see what? “Walls of Heritage, Walls of Pride,” an assembly of pics and pieces of art in public spaces around the country. Also, “African American Muslims in Early America.” Both interesting and engaging, I highly recommend checking them out. (I’m deliberately skimping on the details ‘cause I’m trying to get a review published in DC publication. Stay tuned for that adventure.)
Of course, my plug to get more folks to the museum potentially violates its sanctified nature. Yes, I contradict myself ("I don't need that now). But as I remember the fate of the City Museum (you probably don’t; it had a shorter life span than a five year old’s goldfish), I’m willing to sacrifice a little elbow room in the name of longevity.
posted by Rhonda Henderson at 6:03 PM
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