American history without Africans is no history at all: "America I AM" comes to LA Oct. 30th

October 28, 10:35 AMLA African American Culture ExaminerEricka King

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Photo: America I AM

 “Your country?  How came it yours?  Before the Pilgrims landed we were here.  Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song--soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire two hundred years earlier than your weak hands could have done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit.  Around us the history of the land has centred for thrice a hundred years; out of the nation's heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this people, and they have found peace only in the altars of the God of Right.  Nor has our gift of the Spirit been merely passive.  Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation,--we fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise not Justice, Mercy, and Truth, lest the nation be smitten with a curse.  Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood.  Are not these gifts worth the giving?  Is not this work and striving?  Would America have been America without her Negro people?”

- The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois (1903)

The impact of African Americans in U.S. history will be examined through a groundbreaking exhibit coming to the California Science Center on October 30th.  America I Am: The African American Imprint is developed in partnership with broadcaster Tavis Smiley, and is organized by Arts and Exhibitions International (AEI), a division of AEG Live.  AEI also organized the King Tut exhibition that drew nearly one million visitors to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2005.

The exhibition, on its third stop in a 10-city, four-year tour, is a nearly 13,000 square-foot presentation celebrating the courage, conviction, creativity, and undeniable imprint of African Americans on our nation and around the world.  Through the almost 300 rare historic objects, documents, photos and multimedia, visitors can explore how African Americans have contributed to and shaped American culture across four core areas: economic, socio-political, cultural, and spiritual.  The exhibition relates nearly 500 years of important events and people, from the beginnings of the nation up through the present-day inauguration of the first African American president.

Exhibition organizers worked with some of the most notable scholars in the field to develop America I AM, including Lawrence J. Pijeaux Jr., President and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and past president of the Association of African American Museums; Cornel West, professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University; and Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and American Research at Harvard University.  John Fleming, President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, serves as executive producer.

Visitors will walk past the “Door of No Return” and view personal artifacts and innovations from African American artists, activists, and inventors.  An interactive area allows visitors to leave their own video “imprints,” a collection that will grow throughout the tour with the potential to become the largest recorded oral history project in U.S. history.  Among the poignant pieces in the exhibition are:

• Items from contemporary icons including but not limited to Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Etta James, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jordan, and Tupac Shakur;
• Objects representing the African American troops that fought and impacted the outcome of major U.S. wars;
• Malcolm X’s journal and personal Koran;
• The door key and stool from the Birmingham jail cell that held Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he authored “Letter from a Birmingham Jail;”
• Frederick Douglass’ clothing and letter from President Lincoln that enabled him to move among Union lines recruiting black soldiers; 
• The robe that Muhammad Ali wore during training for the “Rumble in the Jungle,” where he defeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman.

America I Am: The African American Imprint proves irrefutable, the fact that African Americans were not only a part of U.S. history, but were at its core from the very start. The exhibit runs through April 15th at the California Science Center located in Exposition Park. Click here for tickets and general information, or call (213) 744-2019.