Smithsonian

To:  Smithsonian Editorial Office
From:  Lowell Noble
Re:  Article for Smithsonian Magazine
Date:  October 3, 2016

Congratulations on your magnificent issue on the NMAAHC.

A suggestion for a future related article.

Director Bunch correctly observed:

"Of course, the subject of slavery went to the very core of the American dilemma, the contradiction of a nation built on freedom while denying that right to the enslaved. . . .  Smithsonian regents voted to put the museum on the Mall, next to the Washington Monument and within the shadow of the White House."

A title for my proposed article: "The Mall:  America's hallowed ground that sanctified white oppression."

The article should put the NMAAHC in its larger local geographical context---Monuments, Memorials and other buildings and show their historical connections to slavery.

1.  Washington Monument---our first president owned from 123-318 slaves.
2.  White House---built using slave labor; 12 presidents owned slaves.
3.  Jefferson Memorial---owned 600 slaves during his lifetime.
4.  Capitol Building---built using slave labor.
5.  Lincoln Memorial---civil war fought, in part, to end slavery; ended legal slavery, but not systems of oppression to deny freedom and justice to blacks.
6.  Supreme Court---made decisions that legitimated first slavery, then segregation, and now mass incarceration---Dred Scott, Plessy, and McCleskey.
7.  Declaration of Independence---41 signers owned slaves.
8.  Constitution---half of the writers owned slaves.

Suggestion:  Use Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, as a consultant or co-author of the article.

Sincerely,

Lowell Noble