In some ways, this museum in Washington gets to do something very important, ... It can be a lens to help us all better understand what it means to be an American--to use African-American culture as that lens to understand the history of this country as well.

It will tell the stories of African-American culture from slavery through civil rights.

This is how to understand America. So having the Museum of African American History and Culture on the mall, surrounded by the other museums, will make African-American culture central to all Americans.

There will be stories in here of great pain, great tragedy, great brutality, ... because you can't run away from that because those are instructive.

[Organizers say they hope the exhibit will bring the unvarnished reality of the bus boycott home to viewers.] In some ways, we've romanticized the civil rights movement, ... We often forget just how strong the walls of segregation were, just how close to the surface racial hatred was. This wasn't simply a walk in the park.

I want to talk to the elders within the African American community. I want to get their sense, and their blessing, and an artifact or two,