The International African American Museum, a dream for more than two decades, will be dedicated Saturday in a ceremony that will be filled with distinguished guests and visitors.
The museum offers nine core galleries, a special exhibit space and a genealogy center to present a sweeping story of the forced migration of Africans to America. The galleries reveal the realities of the slave trade and plantation life while presenting the skills and culture of people of African descent and their contributions to this country.
Check out the full coverage in the Charleston City Paper in a special commemorative 48-page magazine that welcomes the museum to the Holy City, featuring articles detailing the influences of West African cuisine in Lowcountry cooking, influence of Charleston jazz, the history of Porgy and Bess, a timeline of African American influence in South Carolina and more.
CP OPINION: Brack: The IAAM is a really, really big deal
“Now is the perfect time for a museum dedicated to telling generations of stories stemming from the lives of enslaved Africans brutally brought to what became the United States. And now is the perfect time for Charleston, where two of every five of the enslaved disembarked from cruel slaving ships that fueled chattel slavery, to embrace this museum built on a wharf where importation of people ended in 1808.”
CP OPINION: Frazier: IAAM opening brings bittersweet memories
“The site is now home to the International African American Museum (IAAM), which opens this weekend. Unbeknownst to me when I left the projects in the mid-1960s, life placed me on a wandering path that would put me in the future IAAM next to my old neighborhood.”
CP OPINION: A pause that’s a win for Charleston and the State Ports Authority
“The mice of advocacy groups and neighbors haven’t liked all of this rigamarole. They’ve been organizing and protesting for months. A couple of weeks back at a public hearing, more than 250 people showed up and gave intelligent, passionate comments on why the port’s plan is bad for Charleston. “
CP CARTOONS:
In other headlines:
CP: Abuzz over the plight of the pollinators. June is International Pollinator Month, and local hobbyists and activists see it as a time to refocus their message on the Lowcountry and speak about its hard working creatures.
CP: Book describes Berkeley Co.’s violent history. Lawmen and Lawlessness: Historic Cases of Corruption and Murder, tells stories of the Berkeley County’s sheriffs who enforced the laws and those who broke them during the county’s raucous decades of moonshining, political corruption and murder.
CP: Charleston Carifest to spotlight Bahamian culture. Charleston Carifest kicks off June 29 with a series of events spotlighting the island country in all its splendor by bringing Bahamian music, cuisine and culture to the Holy City.
New Charleston Co. superintendent to get $275K a year. The Charleston County School District will pay newly hired superintendent Eric Gallien $275,000 a year, approximately $33,000 more than the roughly $242,000 the county’s previous superintendent made.
Charleston Stage alumnus wins first Tony as producer on ‘Parade’. West Ashley native David Lynch took home a Tony Award as part of the cast and crew of “Parade,” won best revival of a musical and best director of a musical.
Charleston-area Red Cross joins Teamsters in union drive. A small group of workers at two American Red Cross sites in the Charleston area have joined more than 5,000 members of the South Carolina-based Teamsters Union.
Boeing 787 supplier suspends plant operations. Spirit Aerosystems, a major supplier to Boeing Co.’s North Charleston factory, is suspending operations at a critical Kansas plant after union workers rejected a proposed four-year contract and authorized a strike.
- To get dozens of South Carolina news stories every business day, contact the folks at SC Clips.
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