Proposed black museums need black money

“The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us … and that history is literally present in all that we do.”

Author James Baldwin, quoted by Lonnie G. Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Museum News.

Time, sistahs and brothas, to put your money where your memory is.

As we call the roll today of the great civil rights stalwarts, another icon will not answer.

Coretta Scott King, the genteel Southern beauty who must go down in the history books as more than a grieving widow, deserves a place in history’s halls in her own right. The 78-year-old civil rights maven took up the mantle and fought the good fight for freedom for as many years as her husband, Martin Luther King, was alive.

However, in what history halls will future generations know of these valiant freedom fighters who forced the great American documents of liberty and justice for all to live up to their promise and guarantees? “Coretta King is due the justice of being remembered for her own extraordinary work,” said D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a longtime friend.

It should not be lost on any American, most especially a black American, that the day after Mrs. King died in a Mexico hospice, the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents selected the most prominent of four proposed sites to build the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Kudos to the board for giving the museum a deserved seat, front and center, on the Mall. At the corner of 14th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest, it will stand proudly just a stone’s throw from the Reflecting Pool where King gave his seminal “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington.

“It is crucial to remember that we are all made better by embracing the inspirational stories and lesson of African-American culture,” Mr. Bunch said in his speech printed in Museum News late last year. “The black past is a wonderful but unforgiving mirror that reminds us of America’s ideals and promise.” What a significant way to jump-start Black History Month 2006.

A year ago, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, said, “The new museum will house priceless artifacts, documents and recordings. It will bring to life the vibrant cultural contributions African-Americans have made to every facet of American life. Visitors from around the world will learn about 400 years of struggle and of progress.”

Not far away, organizers and supporters of the Martin Luther King Memorial hope to break ground on the Tidal Basin by the end of the year if they can raise the necessary matching grant funds.

Neither of these history halls will be inexpensive.

While it’s imperative to have civic-minded corporations and foundations contribute matching funds to build these repositories of artifacts, it’s up to black folk to dig deep in their pockets to make these dreams a reality.

What better way to honor the memory of our heroes than by ensuring endowments at these planned museums? The U.S. government, sparked by Rep. John Lewis, Georgia Democrat, in part, has put up substantial dollars for these museums but each requires hefty private donations to match the federal funding that President Bush authorized in 2003.

We have to stop begging for some of the lasting values and valuables that are our primary duty to uphold as “African-Americans.” Or, as we hear the children say, “Handle your business.” In that vein, we must give up some of the “bling-bling” for the real thing.

A friend suggests that every black American man, woman and child ought to donate at least $1 to build and maintain these museums and their collections. That’s a mere pittance and we could do much better by our struggling institutions if we would leave the Lexuses and the Lincolns alone. And we can.

Couldn’t a church, in King’s name, pass the plate just once for history’s sake? Cost estimates for constructing the African-American museum range from $300 million to $350 million. Half the money is supposed to come from private donations.

Estimates for the Martin Luther King Memorial currently rest at $100 million. Organizers have been trying to raise contributions in order to receive matching funds earmarked by Congress in 1996. They hope to raise $66 million before breaking ground in November. Yesterday, they were $4 million short on private donations.

“Like Dr. King, Mrs. King’s life personified the ideals and truths of humanity for all mankind,” said Harry E. Johnson Sr., president and chief executive officer of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. He pointed out that Mrs. King joined the foundation “with a host of great Americans in raising the awareness and much needed resources to construct” the memorial to her husband.

We need to support these history halls and other institutions that validate the legacies of our ancestors as well as those of our icons.

As Martin Luther King said, “Every man a must decide if he will walk in the light of altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

To donate to the Martin Luther King Memorial, go to www.mlkmemorial.org, or send checks to 401 F St. NW, Suite 334, Washington, D.C. 20001, or call 888/484-3373. The Smithsonian will soon announce how to donate, but for more information about the National African American Museum of History and Culture, go to www.aam-us.org.