Please welcome threetime. Rammy winner angelique to [applause] emancipate yourself from mental slavery have no fear none of them can stop the time how long shall they kill our profits while we stand aside and lose something is just a part of it you help to say songs of freedom. All i ever had Redemption Song demption song emancipate yourself from mental slavery nobody but ourselves can free the mind none of them can stop the time how long shall they killed the profit while we stand aside and lose just a part ofs it freedomg the all i ever had Redemption Song all i ever had Redemption Song freedomngs of of freedom [applause] you. Ank ,o date is a special day bridging our cultures and or cells. Know yourys better to neighbor than not. This is a blessing song that i would like to share with you. I would like you to sing the blessing song with me in one of my native languages. If you do not know, it is simple. T goes like this on ome dont be shy. Get it. Africa africa lets go Africa Africa lets go Africa Africa [applause] you. K at kaiser permanente, we are committed to shaping the future of health. We believe that everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live, should have the ability to be healthy to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We are proud to be a Founding Member of the Smithsonian Museum of African American history and culture. The museum is a wonderful acknowledgment of the importance of the contributions that African Americans have made to the success of the United States. Kaiser permanente is thrilled the museum is creating a space that reinforces the concept that no one is prevented from achieving their potential orause of social conditions circumstances. [applause] we all have dreams for ourselves, and our families. Future. Or a brighter streams forr these people, for organizations, for communities. It is a promise that beats in the heart of who we are as a country. Oflt on the foundation providing security for families. Thise proud to celebrate institution and the dreams of achievement to have driven and will continue to drive lasting positive change across the country. Order ready [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our distinguished speakers. [applause] please welcome the 43rd president of the United States, george w. Bush and former first lady, laura bush. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, accompanied by first lady, michelle obama. [applause] please remain standing for the national anthem. National anthem] [applause] order [drumming] [applause] dr. Ease welcome reverend utts the third. It is hard to believe it has been four years since we were first tier for the groundbreaking. Archer met this accomplishment. A special word of appreciation goes out to brother lonnie bunch. [applause] only through his efforts and a dedicated staff that worked with him was is able to be accomplished. The night is beautiful. My people. Faces of the stars are beautiful. So are the eyes of my people. Son. Iful also is the beautiful also are the souls of my people. Say it loud. I am black and i am proud. Say it loud. I am black and i am proud. When those thousands of slaves ships took us far beyond the sights and smells of our land, and be on the farreaching theghts of our sins caribbean, south america, central america, and the wilderness of north america there, we were asked to sing one of the songs. Others said, you can think if you know the lord. We did seeing. We think spirituals. We sing the blues. They think them on broadway, in the hollywood old, they put them in symphonies, they fixed them so they dont even sound like me. They took my spirituals. They put them in that beth, carmen jones, in all kinds of swing, everything, what about me . Ike is one day someone will stand up and talk about me. They will write about me. They are going to write about me. Black and beautiful. They will do plays about me,. Ake movies about me where is Oprah Winfrey . Make movies about me. I guess it will be me. Yes, me. What we are witnessing here today is the a compliment of many, all walks of life, coming together to put of this monument to those who made america great. Yes. We built the wall. Ofput steak and mud on top each other. We built the wall. Not only literally, but figuratively. Anybody could be great if you had me working for you for 200 years and never paid me a dime. Come on. Then, we had to get it straight. Civil war tried to straighten us out. They had to send a statue over here to commemorate me. We put it in our home, new york city. Everybody. This is give me your tired, your humble masses. Send these to me. We need this museum because it was me polishing the door to keep it cold in all those years. [applause] i see this audience in front of me, by know there are those across the country watching this now. I celebrate this date because not only do we have a chance to give great applause to our president , the one and only, who has done more for this country than anyone in a long time, barack obama. [applause] i want you to know, as i stand here im almost through, but im a baptist preacher, so that is the first finish the words of inspiration are meant to say to in this museum is the blood, sweat, and tears of generations. In this museum is the blood, sweat, and tears of men who have gone out and raised the dollars to make this work. Sat me why im glad they next to ken. You to give him a round of applause because he did a lot of work to get this done. [applause] finally, i want to state of the unrest in the nation today, and im very aware of what is going on. When i go in here and walk past the capture of emmett till, im very aware of what is going on. This was only accomplished because men and women of goodwill, black and white, rich and poor, republican and democrat, put their hearts together, their minds together, and their hands together in order to build this Great Monument to a people who have truly given their all to the United States of america. Finally, i want to say, do not be discouraged by what is ahead. Hold onto your dreams. Keep the faith. One africanamerican preacher wrote, he said, harder yet may be this site and write may often yield to might. Satan caused may seem to gain. All but there is a god that those above. If i am right, he will fight my battles, and we will be free someday. I think we are right. I think dr. King was right. I think Marian Anderson was right. I think so many who have gone before us are right. I think barack obama is right. If we are right, god will fight our battles and we will be free someday. I think you for gathering today. We have a wonderful celebration before us. May god bless you. May god less the African American museum of history and culture. May god bless america. Thank you so much. [applause] ladies and jenna men, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, david scorney. [applause] good morning. Togetherstoric day to on the National Mall of the United States. It is my distinct pleasure to everyone to this dawning of a new air at the Smithsonian Institution today. Today, we open wide the doors of this museum so that people in the nations capital, throughout america, and across our world. The dream that so many envisioned is made real. Several people who supported us along the way are here with us this morning. Including john lewis, representative of georgias district and author of the original legislation to establish the museum. [applause] Sam Brownback, governor of kansas and lead senate sponsor and coauthor of the legislation. [applause] it is also my great honor to welcome former president and mrs. Bush and current president and mrs. Obama. [applause] thank you all for your enthusiastic support of this endeavor. We welcome as well to Vice President joe biden and dr. Joe biden dr. Jill biden. Mr. Vice president , i personally thank you for your work on behalf of our work as the board of regents of district and aute original legislation to establish the museum. [appes district and author of te let me also recognize paul ryan, speaker of the house. [applause] former president bill clinton. [applause] nancy pelosi, House Democratic leader, representative of californias 12 district. District and author of the original legislation to establish the museum. [applause] Sam Brownback, governor of kansas and lead senate sponsor and coauthor of the legislation. [applause] it is also my great honor to welcome formereleanor holmes noe to the district of columbia. [applause] of, muriel bowser, mayor washington, d. C. [applause] and, to the Supreme Court justices, members of the cabinet, members of the diplomatic corps, for dignitaries, and all of our distinguished guests, welcome. Thank you for your tremendous support of the smithsonian and the museum of African American museum and culture. Like all of the Smithsonian Museums, this one truly belongs to the american people. A museum is many things, but to elements are important. The people who curate, preserve, and shared stories, and the collection itself. The incredible passion for this museum becomes evident when you find out about its collections. The majority of the nearly 37,000 objects, 3000 of which are currently on display, come from individuals and families, memories passed down through generations, stored in cupboards and addicts, hung on walls, displayed on coffee tables. Yet, the people who donated these personal moment does new of their great power. The items displayed on the walls uths. Is Museum Display fromtory is indivisible the american story. That story is often resilient, triumphant, and inspiring. But, it is also tragic. Confronts candidly slavery and jim crow. Legacies that hot us to this day. Honesty, this museum will spark dialogue, not just about our past, but are present. It will be an important part of the national conversation, helping us to more effectively face are racial issues and divisions and move forward, somehow, together. , to striking monument africanamerican contributions and citizenship, this National Museum of African American history and culture will help us in our common cause of building a more perfect union. To quote lincoln, it will strive into finish the work we are to bind up the nations wounds. Congratulations to director lonnie bunch and his staff for this remarkable achievement, and , thee Museums Council smithsonian region, and all of staff who made this possible. Thank you. [applause] please welcome the vice chair to the board of regents of the dr. Hsonian institution, da shirley ann jackson. Good morning. It is a high honor to me to be here today. Education,life, my surrounded by the resources of our nations capital. Segregated school. The people with the highest expectations for me, as a young africanamerican girl, where my parents where my parents. My mother taught me to liz and i to read before kindergarten. My father, very mechanically gifted, served in world war ii, in a segregated army unit. Heing the normandy invasion, prepared the writer amphibious s that brought the troops to shore. He did this under fire. For that, he received a bronze star. My parents, borges 50 years after the end of the civil war alone could not have carried me to the life i have had. Without the influence of two events that set me on a new trajectory and had the Smithsonian Institution not been here to substantiate that influence. The first was the brown versus board of education Supreme Court decision which allowed me to attend integrated schools instead of traveling miles across washington to segregated schools. The second of it was the lunch by the soviet union of sputnik one, the first artificial satellite, which ignited my interest in science and strengthened the math and Science Curriculum in the Public Schools in the United States. School, i was tested and placed in an accelerated honors program, which led me to m. I. T. , where i was one of only two africanamerican women in my class. The first ever. I had the smithsonian has an extension of my classroom. It opened my eyes to the wonders of the Natural World and decides. Its art and Cultural Resources allowed me to understand other eras, other places, other lives. It took a young girl, not from a wealthy background, from a segregated environment and in noble i life. Ed her today, the Smithsonian Institution launches a museum with a history, culture, and heroism of africanamericans, congressmaner, like john lewis, like our president , barack obama, and others are recognized fully, constituting a thet tributary, feeding larger strain of our national story. This is meaningful to me and for millions like me. We did a very great thing today to the millions of children from all over the nation and around the globe who will come to the museum of African American history and culture, be moved and astonished, and emerge with an elevated sense of their own , their own prospect, their own potential. My father always says, and for the stars. You at least aim for the treetops, and be sure to get off at the ground. I took his advice. , theirricanamericans achievements, large and small, one been given an honor here the National Mall. On behalf of the board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution, i think all of you for being here and all of those who brought this to reality. Thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, and gillette Angela Bassett and robert de niro. [applause] from the time that came to theseans shores. Their joys and the music inside. Frederick douglass said this. There is but one destiny available to us. The way to right wrongs is to truth. E light off of one had better die fighting against injustice and die like a dog. Said ida b well, one of the founders of the naacp. Mohammed ali came off the round. N the eight this is what he said. Champions are not made in gyms, champions are made from something they have deep inside them. Vision. , a dream, the they have to have the last minute of stamina, they have to be a little faster, have the skill and the will. The will has to be stronger than the skill. When they asked her why she did not give a percy on the bus when they told her to, rosa parks said this, i was not tired physically, i was not old, i was 42, no, the only tired i was was tired of giving in. I believe that if one can touch ace diversity, variety of its people, laugh at its craziness, distill wisdom from its tragedies, and attempt to synthesize all that is inside itself without going crazy, one would have earned the right to of themselves citizen the United States. So wrote james alan mcpherson. , whongressman john lewis at 21, was one of the 13 original freedom riders said this. We may not have chosen the ime, but the time has chosen us, ours is not a struggle that years, few weeks, a few it is a struggle of a lifetime. Thank you. Please welcome u. S. Representative of the fifth Congressional District of georgia, john lewis. [applause] rep. Lewis president and mrs. Biden,Vice President jill biden, president and mrs. Bush, president clinton, mr. Chief justice, and members of , to thed of regents Museum Advisory council, secretary davis, and dr. Lonnie bunch, to the leadership of the United States congress, to the house and senate, in memory of the late representative of s of thise architect incredible building, and the white house, the congress, the smithsonian who push and pull together to make this moment happened and to all of the Construction Companies and their you. , i thinank thank you for all you did to help lead to this mind of the day. Ive long as there is a United States of america, now there will be a National Museum of African American history and culture. [applause] this is a great achievement. Thinkingu, i feel like from theg the song march on washington 50 years ago. How we got over. How we got over. There were some who said, it could not happen. Who said, you cannot do it, but we did. We didnt. We are gathered here today to. Edicate a building this place is more than a building. It is a dream come true. You and i. The veterans, and their supporters, they met right here in washington, d. C. In 1916. Exactly 100 years ago, the 19th Street Baptist Church still in existence today. All said, see what a dream can do. , ay rolled up their sleeves chest of war on their backs. The could not read orlaration of independence write their own names, but in their hearts, the burning vision. F true democracy no threat of death that ever a racist. Understand the meaning of their contribution. Its that possibility in motion, passing down through the ages from heart to heart and breast th to breath. This museum is a testament to the dignities of the dispossessed in every corner of the globe who urine for