Charleston African American Museum

The International African American Museum took 23 years to plan—but was centuries in the making. The landmark IAAM sits on Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina, and features nine permanent exhibitions. It also has a special exhibitions gallery that focuses on the triumphs and traumas of the global African diaspora. The location is an essential element of the museum’s power. Historians estimate that almost half of the enslaved Africans brought to America came ashore in Charleston.

“Many African Americans can trace their ancestry to Gadsden’s Wharf,” says Martina Morale. As the director of curatorial and special exhibits at IAAM, she oversaw the acquisition of about 150 artifacts, 30 works of art and 50 films and interactive digital interfaces. She cites the Transatlantic Gallery as an example of how the African American historical experience is conveyed. There, eight video screens immerse viewers in scenes that span hundreds of years, from precolonial West and West-Central Africa to modern Black diasporas. As a whole, the exhibitions cover a wide range of geography and history. The Gullah Geechee Gallery hones in on Lowcountry culture, for example. The Atlantic Worlds Gallery explores the connections between Africa, Europe and the Americas.

The innovative approach is evident outside as well. The museum hovers 13 feet above the ground, on 18 pillars, to avoid building on top of hallowed ground. Beneath and around the structure is the public African Ancestors Memorial Garden. Landscape architect Walter Hood designed it to honor African and African American customs. For instance, the Sweetgrass Field pays tribute to Lowcountry basket-weaving traditions. Closer to the water, the Tide Tribute installation features hundreds of etchings of human bodies on the floor. They mirror the claustrophobic conditions on the ships that brought the enslaved into Charleston. The concrete carvings fill with water as the tide rises. This conjures the effects of a reflecting pool.

Many visitors will be able to reflect upon their personal connections with the past, thanks to the museum’s Center for Family History. It's available to assist with genealogy research. “You’re going to have visitors that are descendants of the slaveholders and descendants of the enslaved,” says Dr. Shelley Murphy, the center’s coordinator for genealogy education. She acknowledges the process can be painful but points out that it serves IAAM’s greater purpose. When we call out the names of our ancestors, she notes, “they’re being remembered.”