Museums are a lovely leisure activity to ponder visiting every now and then, as they can often be educational and informing. You can always end up learning something you didn’t know before arriving that you do once you’ve left. So, here are five museums for history buffs to enjoy this summer.Â
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- The Legacy Museum and Memorial (Montgomery, AL)
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A fairly new museum, which opened April 26, 2018, chronicles the history of the enslavement of African Americans to modern day mass incarceration. The museum’s goal is to lead the visitor on the path from slavery to other forms of racial oppression throughout United States history. The museum also includes history of segregation and racial bias in the United States, with a separate memorial dedicated to racial lynching, ordered by state, county, and date and including the names of the victims.
- National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.)
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Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum is committed to advancing the knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present, and future—through partnership with Native people and others. The museum works to support the continuance of culture, traditional values, and informing those who visit of contemporary Native American life. It has three facilities: the National Museum of the American Indian; the George Gustav Heye Center, a permanent museum in New York City; and the Cultural Resources Center, a research and collections facility in Suitland, Maryland.
- Motown Museum (Detroit, MI)
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Nicknamed Hitsville, U.S.A after its first and iconic headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, the Motown Museum was created after several requests for visitors to be able to view the Hitsville headquarters. The Museum is dedicated to the legacy of the record label, its artists and its music, and is one of Detroit’s most popular tourist destinations.
- Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum (Boston, MA)
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The museum features reenactments, a documentary, and a number of interactive exhibits dedicated to the history of Boston Tea Party. It features two replica ships of the period, Eleanor and Beaver, which can be seen in the photo above. The museum possesses one of two known tea chests from the original event, part of its permanent collection.
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, D.C.)
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The United States’ official memorial to the Holocaust, provides the documentation and study of Holocaust history. It is also dedicated to helping world leaders stop hate, prevent genocide, and humanity. The museum has four exhibits Remember the Children, Stephen Tyrone Johns Memorial, the Hall of Remembrance, an official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and the Permanent Exhibition, including hundreds of artifacts and historic film footage chronicling the history of the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Nazi Germany.
- National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN)
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The National Civil Rights Museum is a series of museums built around and inside of the Lorraine Motel which was the site of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination on April 4, 1968. The museum traces the history of the Civil Rights Movement from the 17th century to the present. Two adjacent buildings connected to the assassination of MLK have been acquired as part of the museum. As of 2014, the museum was revamped to include multimedia and interactive exhibits.
- Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Memphis, TN)
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One of the few museums in the world dedicated to soul music, the Stax museum was established in the 1990s to preserve the history of the Stax label. It is a replica of the Stax recording studio, apart of the Capitol Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee. Some of the exhibits include a Mississippi delta church to showcase the gospel roots of soul music, the Soul Train dance floor, Isaac Hayes 1972 Cadillac El Dorado, and changing gallery. It also celebrates artists signed to the label, such as Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, the Staples Singers, Johnnie Taylor, and Carla Thomas.
So, take a look these museums over the summer and get a fun history lesson along the way.