Washington D.C. Visitors’ Center Hosts African American Exhibit

In honor of Black History Month, held each February in the United States, the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center hosted during February and March an extensive display of rare African American artifacts spanning 400 years of history. The exhibit comprised one-of-a-kind photographs, books, letters, newspapers, and documents. These included a note written by Martin Luther King Jr. from jail in Alabama, an 1840 print depicting the Spanish slave ship L’Amistad, and a letter from Frederick Douglass on the death of abolitionist Sojourner Truth.

Part of the Mark E. Mitchell Collection of African American History, the exhibit was sponsored by the Friends of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The display also featured artifacts from the Museum of Church History and Art, including photographs, audio and video recordings, journals, and letters of early and more recent black members of the Church.

The exhibit received a great deal of positive public and media attention, said K. Gary Garff, director of the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center. Individuals attending the exhibit’s debut included members of the U.S. Congress, international ambassadors, collection owner Mark Mitchell, and Frederick Douglass IV, president of the Friends of the NMAAHC.

Frederick Douglass IV (right) joined Washington D.C. Visitors’ Center Director K. Gary Garff and his wife, Linda, at the exhibit’s opening. (Photo by R. Cole Goodwin.)