FREDERICKSBURG, VA, UNITED STATES
The United States National Slavery Museum will present the complete heretofore untold story of slavery in America.
The museum complex will include classrooms and lecture halls, an auditorium, archives and a library with a capacity of 250,000 books. There will also be a theater, virtual reality exhibits and a reproduction of a slave ship.
The project’s mission is to vitalize and interpret more completely the human drama and toll of slavery in America. The museum will educate some, re-educate others by presenting slavery in a larger and more balanced economic and political context.
The museum will include a commemorative wall and walkway which will be a permanent monument to the untold number of African Americans and others who made contributions in their own inimitable way, but have not received recognition.
The museum will not feature recrimination, but instead will demonstrate the contributions of the descendants of African slaves to the development of the unique American character. By showing how these unwilling immigrants affected American culture, it will prove that they are as important as any of the other willing immigrants to claim America’s heritage.
The museum will be a forward-looking structure, emphasizing the positive. A striking glass enclosure facing towards Interstate 95 will reveal the full size replica of a slave ship to all southbound travelers on the nation’s busiest highway. Innovative interactive exhibits are built into the travertine-clad building. Outside, the landscape will also tell the story of African-American heritage.