On Monday, ground will be broken on the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. This $500 million project is just one of the many being erected in major cities dedicated to African American history and the civil rights movement: Atlanta, Jackson and Charleston all have projects in the works. These projects mark an emerging era of scholarship and interest in the history of the civil rights movement, providing the public with new insights.
Doug Shipman is CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad is director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.