[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 144 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

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                          HON. XAVIER BECERRA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 22, 2016

  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the opening of 
the National Museum of African American History and Culture this 
Saturday, September 24, 2016.
  As the nineteenth museum to join the Smithsonian Institution, the 
National Museum of African American History and Culture joins the 
world's largest museum, education, and research complex. It is the only 
national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African 
American life, history, and culture.
  When the Smithsonian was founded in 1846, the United States was a far 
less perfect union than the one we live in today, and the idea of a 
museum that would tell the story of African Americans could hardly have 
been imagined. Yet there can be no denying that the story of America 
and its vitality, resilience, and optimism are rooted and reflected in 
the African American experience.
  In the words of Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the 
National Museum of African American History and Culture, ``there are 
few things as powerful and as important as a people, as a nation that 
is steeped in its history.''
  As Members of Congress, we have the privilege of representing the 
entirety of the American people and working in the ``People's House'' 
and under the glorious dome of our U.S. Capitol and its crowning 
feature, the Statue of Freedom. In the pages of history, you will find 
extensive information about the architect of the Capitol, the artist 
who designed the Statue of Freedom, and the foundry owner who was 
commissioned for the casting of the statue. What is less known is the 
story of Philip Reid, the enslaved laborer of the foundry owner who was 
the only known slave working on Freedom and instrumental to its 
successful casting in bronze.
  Philip Reid worked on the casting of Freedom from 1860 through 1862, 
despite the beginning of the Civil War and its toll on construction of 
the Capitol. When the statue was finally completed and placed atop the 
Capitol Dome in 1863, Reid had become a free man thanks to the 
Compensated Emancipation Act signed by President Lincoln.
  The story of Philip Reid is the story of America, and only one of the 
many histories and cultural contributions that will be shared with the 
American public at the National Museum of African American History and 
Culture. Like the building of the U.S. Capitol, the creation of this 
museum has taken almost a century, but its time has finally come.
  Today, we celebrate its opening and its tribute to generations of 
Americans past, present and future and the defining way in which our 
country has been shaped by our African American brothers and sisters.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I recall the words of the Harlem Renaissance 
poet Langston Hughes who wrote that ``America is a dream . . . not my 
dream alone, but our dream. Not my world alone, but your world and my 
world.'' Let us all share in this great dream made real together.

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