My weekend began a little early on Friday because Sarah’s sister had extra tickets to the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which remains so popular that you either need to reserve space months ahead or wait in line for a giveaway spot. Being lazy, I’d opted to do neither, figuring that sooner or later all hot spots die down and eventually I’d be able to just stroll in. Or as strolly as one gets in D.C., where walking into practically any venue requires either showing an ID or going through a metal detector or both. (I remain grateful that none of the D.C. libraries requires such ridiculousness.)

Where was I? Right! So we spent the afternoon at the museum, sort of with our friends Michael and Julia and sort of not, since we split up, regrouped, and split up again, which meant Julia was done about 45 minutes before the rest of us, but that’s because Rudi and I stopped and had a late lunch partway through.

Here are just a few of the things we saw during our 4+ hours at the museum:

Connecticut was represented:

This painting, New Orleans Niggah, was painted by Barkley Hendricks, who taught at Conn until his recent death.

Prince Simbo’s powder horn

As was D.C.:

The Godfather of Go-Go

Benjamin Bannecker, who executed Pierre L’Enfant’s design for the new capital city of the United States

There was a lace shawl gifted to Harriet Tubman by Queen Victoria:

A dress designed by the same woman who did Jackie Kennedy’s wedding gown:

And the one Rosa Parks was sewing that fateful day:

The subterranean levels are devoted to history, while the floors above are dedicated more to culture. We missed the second floor, but the third is devoted to entrepreneurial endeavors, scientific achievement, military pageantry, and sports pinnacles, as well as additional exhibitions about the importance of place, education, and religion in everyday life.

There were sports before integration…:

… and after:

And at the very top of the museum, there’s fine arts, with exhibitions on music, literature, art, dance, theater, tv, and culinary arts:

It was a lot. We covered nearly all of it, but it’s not remotely digestible that way. I look forward to returning when walk-ins are welcomed so I can look at just pieces of the collection, which I think will allow for more scope for reflection. Also, in future visits, I’ll know to set time aside for the Contemplative Court, which sits at the end of the history section. We ran out of time before the building was closing, but I think stopping in there would have allowed us to decompress some and sort out what we’d just seen.