By Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY
A museum that supporters say will feature the achievements of African-Americans as well as painful moments in their history will be built on the National Mall not far from the Washington Monument.
The Smithsonian Institution will operate the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The prominent location, announced Monday, promotes the concept that African-American life is a part of mainstream American life, said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who has been pushing for the museum for about 20 years.
"That site is the front door to American democracy," Lewis, a student activist during the civil rights movement, said Monday.
"I think it dramatizes the fact that African-American history is American history and must be shared with everyone," he said.
The museum will feature "truly American stories of perseverance, courage, talent and triumph," Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small said.
President Bush signed legislation in 2003 calling for selection of a site for the museum. The decision for the site was made by the Smithsonian's board of regents. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who serves as chancellor of the regents, presided over the vote.
The museum will be a block from the National Museum of American History on Constitution Avenue and across the street from the Washington Monument.
Lewis has said he hopes the museum will include exhibits such as auction blocks used to sell Africans into slavery or the clothing that people wore during the 1963 March on Washington. He hopes some exhibits will be interactive. Lewis said he expects the museum to open by 2012.
He has said the museum is expected to cost up to $500 million. Half the funds are to come from the federal government and the other half through private fundraising, he said.
Oprah Winfrey and Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson are among the fundraisers.
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