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Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture
In Long Road to Hard The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture , Robert L. Wilkins tells the story of how his curiosity about why there wasn't a national museum dedicated to African American history and culture became an obsession-eventually leading him to quit his job as an attorney when his wife was seven months pregnant with their second child, and make it his mission to help the museum become a reality. Long Road to Hard Truth chronicles the early history, when staunch advocates sought to create a monument for Black soldiers fifty years after the end of the Civil War and in response to the pervasive indignities of the time, including lynching, Jim Crow segregation, and the slander of the racist film Birth of a Nation. The movement soon evolved to envision creating a national museum, and Wilkins follows the endless obstacles through the decades, culminating in his honor of becoming a member of the Presidential Commission that wrote the plan for creating the museum and how, with support of both Black and White Democrats and Republicans, Congress finally authorized the museum. In September 2016, exactly 100 years after the movement to create it began, the Smithsonian will open the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The book's title is inspired in part by James Baldwin, who testified in Congress in 1968 that "My history… contains the truth about America. It is going to be hard to teach it." Long Road to Hard Truth concludes that this journey took 100 years because many in America are unwilling to confront the history of America's legacy of slavery and discrimination, and that the only reason this museum finally became a reality is that an unlikely, bipartisan coalition of political leaders had the courage and wisdom to declare that America could not, and should not, continue to evade the hard truth.
160 pages, Paperback
Published September 13, 2016
30 people are currently reading
515 people want to read
About the author
Robert L. Wilkins
1 book13 followersJudge Robert L. Wilkins was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on January 15, 2014. A native of Muncie Indiana, he obtained a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1986 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989. Following law school, Judge Wilkins served as a law clerk to the Honorable Earl B. Gilliam of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. In 1990, he joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where he served first as a staff attorney in the trial and appellate divisions and later for several years as Special Litigation Chief. In 2002, he joined the law firm of Venable LLP as a partner, handling white-collar defense, intellectual property and complex civil litigation matters. During his tenure with the Public Defender Service and in private practice, Judge Wilkins served as the lead plaintiff in Wilkins, et al. v. State of Maryland, a landmark civil rights lawsuit that inspired nationwide legislative and executive reform of police stop-and-search practices and the collection of data regarding those practices. Judge Wilkins also played a key role in the establishment of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (scheduled to open in September 2016 on the National Mall), serving as the Chairman of the Site and Building Committee of the Presidential Commission whose work led to the Congressional authorization of the museum and the selection of its location. As a practicing lawyer, he was named one of the “40 under 40 most successful young litigators in America” by the National Law Journal (2002) and one of the “90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years” by the Legal Times (2008). On December 27, 2010, Judge Wilkins was appointed United States District Judge for the District of Columbia, where he served until his appointment to the D.C. Circuit.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 12, 2016
“Long Road to Hard Truth” is not a glorious read despite its satisfactory ending. But read LRHT before the grand opening of The National Museum of African American History and Culture, September 2016, or before you plan your visit—the history of how it came to be is mind-boggling.
**ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley
Small added updates 10/11:
Planning a visit to NMAAHC with folks sometime in 2017 = darn good plans/news.
I’ve also come across a couple of semi-reviews about NMAAHC (Wired magazine & NPR), but no mention or review of this book. I’m not one to write a letter to the editor, but if I come across another article that talks about the museum but not this book, well, there is a first time for everything.
Interesting thought: I’ll read a book and even give it five stars, but I’ll not necessarily recommend the book. Well, if you are reading this tad-bit review, I highly recommend "Long Road...". Powerful. Impactful. Let’s start a discussion.
**ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley
Small added updates 10/11:
Planning a visit to NMAAHC with folks sometime in 2017 = darn good plans/news.
I’ve also come across a couple of semi-reviews about NMAAHC (Wired magazine & NPR), but no mention or review of this book. I’m not one to write a letter to the editor, but if I come across another article that talks about the museum but not this book, well, there is a first time for everything.
Interesting thought: I’ll read a book and even give it five stars, but I’ll not necessarily recommend the book. Well, if you are reading this tad-bit review, I highly recommend "Long Road...". Powerful. Impactful. Let’s start a discussion.
July 6, 2017
Interesting, scholarly history about how the new National Museum of African American History and Culture came to be. I was in Washington DC this last summer, 2016, before the opening. The building exterior is amazing and I will be heading back to see more.
September 19, 2017
Quotable:
“This idea of the insignificance of the Negro, which is contrary to fact, is so deeply rooted in the minds of most people that the large majority of students attending our public institutions of learning get no impression from the books used therein that Negros have made any worth-while contributions to American advancement and graduate with the false impression that this group of loyal patriots in peace and in war are more of a burden to America than an asset to it.” -Robert Lee Brokenburr, 1928 Hearing of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
“[I]f it should be said that no other race has had any consideration of this character [special treatment for Black people], I would say in response the that suggestion that no other ace has given 250 years of unrequited toil to America.” -Congressman Maurice Thatcher of Kentucky, 1928 Hearing of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
During his administration, President Hoover made it a practice not to pose with African American visitors and delegations that called on him at the White House, no matter how notable. This, his aides would say, reflected the President’s concern that pictures might be misused for advertising purposes, a most curious explanation given the countless photos he took with White citizens… Hoover did not pose with any African Americans until the end of his term, and the African American press savaged him for posing with all manner of White “ninnies and bobbies,” while refusing to take photos with Black dignitaries until he became desperate to “offset the great swing of Negro voters to Roosevelt.”
1933 - 1960’s [T]he African American community, like the rest of the nation, turned its attention to surviving the Great Depression, supporting the country upon its entry into World War II, and witnessing the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.
With the nation having moved on, the National Memorial Building to Negro Advancement and Contributions to America was now a forgotten vision.
“I am the flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone; I have been here as long as you have been here – longer – I paid for it as much as you have. It is my country too. Do recognize that that is the whole question. My history and culture has got to be taught. It is yours.” -James Baldwin, March 1968, House Subcommittee on Labor
“The almost total absence of awareness of the Negro as a valuable contributor to our society – something approaching as inadvertent conspiracy – has gone on for so long that we will have to undertake a very considerable effort to make up for several hundred years of neglect.” Senator Hugh Scott, Pennsylvania, 1968 Capitol Hill Conference with the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
2002-2003 [W]e [the Presidential Commission] concluded that we should have this separate museum, but that it shouldn’t just be seen as a Black history museum. Rather, it should be seen as a museum intended to help the visitor better to understand American history through the lens of Black history, which offers a unique view of the country and its development. For instance, one cannot properly understand the U.S. Constitution without studying how slavery affected the provisions dealing with the voting structure of the Congress and the relationship between the federal government and the states, as well as how the fight against slavery led to constitutional amendments to end slavery and to give full citizenship and voting rights to African Americans.
Our country has also avoided the hard truth because, quite simply, the hard truth hurts.
“This idea of the insignificance of the Negro, which is contrary to fact, is so deeply rooted in the minds of most people that the large majority of students attending our public institutions of learning get no impression from the books used therein that Negros have made any worth-while contributions to American advancement and graduate with the false impression that this group of loyal patriots in peace and in war are more of a burden to America than an asset to it.” -Robert Lee Brokenburr, 1928 Hearing of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
“[I]f it should be said that no other race has had any consideration of this character [special treatment for Black people], I would say in response the that suggestion that no other ace has given 250 years of unrequited toil to America.” -Congressman Maurice Thatcher of Kentucky, 1928 Hearing of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
During his administration, President Hoover made it a practice not to pose with African American visitors and delegations that called on him at the White House, no matter how notable. This, his aides would say, reflected the President’s concern that pictures might be misused for advertising purposes, a most curious explanation given the countless photos he took with White citizens… Hoover did not pose with any African Americans until the end of his term, and the African American press savaged him for posing with all manner of White “ninnies and bobbies,” while refusing to take photos with Black dignitaries until he became desperate to “offset the great swing of Negro voters to Roosevelt.”
1933 - 1960’s [T]he African American community, like the rest of the nation, turned its attention to surviving the Great Depression, supporting the country upon its entry into World War II, and witnessing the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.
With the nation having moved on, the National Memorial Building to Negro Advancement and Contributions to America was now a forgotten vision.
“I am the flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone; I have been here as long as you have been here – longer – I paid for it as much as you have. It is my country too. Do recognize that that is the whole question. My history and culture has got to be taught. It is yours.” -James Baldwin, March 1968, House Subcommittee on Labor
“The almost total absence of awareness of the Negro as a valuable contributor to our society – something approaching as inadvertent conspiracy – has gone on for so long that we will have to undertake a very considerable effort to make up for several hundred years of neglect.” Senator Hugh Scott, Pennsylvania, 1968 Capitol Hill Conference with the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
2002-2003 [W]e [the Presidential Commission] concluded that we should have this separate museum, but that it shouldn’t just be seen as a Black history museum. Rather, it should be seen as a museum intended to help the visitor better to understand American history through the lens of Black history, which offers a unique view of the country and its development. For instance, one cannot properly understand the U.S. Constitution without studying how slavery affected the provisions dealing with the voting structure of the Congress and the relationship between the federal government and the states, as well as how the fight against slavery led to constitutional amendments to end slavery and to give full citizenship and voting rights to African Americans.
Our country has also avoided the hard truth because, quite simply, the hard truth hurts.
January 3, 2018
Such an important book. This book needs to be taught in all high school history classes. Full review to come.
I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
++++++++
This is yet another ARC that I had put aside in 2017 when life was crazy hectic and I wish I had not. This book is so important to our nation's history and the specific struggle that our African American brothers and sisters have endured in fighting to be recognized as citizens in their own country. This book needs to be taught in all high school history classes.
In this text Robert L. Wilkins tells the story of how the Nation Museum of African American History and Culture finally came into being, after decades of starts and stops, permeated by the latent and outright racism of several players in this saga. Judge Wilkins writes not of the museum itself and the numerous artifacts, oral histories, and exhibits, or the celebrities who lent their time to its creation, but of what it took to actually get the museum built in the first place. He has exhaustively searched archives and all possible repositories of knowledge to find every single instance of attempts to create a museum of African American history and the multiple reasons those plans were halted. This became a kind of obsession for Judge Wilkins, first leading him to cut back on his time as a public defender to devote time to his goal of seeing a museum dedicated to the sacrifice and struggle of African Americans and their place in US history. I think Wilkins job as a public defender really helped him realize his greater purpose and it is something the author touches on at various points. He mentions that the majority of his clients are young black and Hispanic men, many of whom he says don't see a future for themselves when he asks where they see themselves in five years. The heartbreaking answer is that some do not even see themselves as being alive in five years. These young men, many still teenage boys, did not care much to know the history of the Civil Rights Movement, how people died for their right to attend proper schools and get the education they deserved. But, Wilkins also discovered something else: when many of these same boys and young men were incarcerated, they started reading because they had nothing else to do. When they truly learned about all that it took to get the access to that education, it opened their eyes to opportunities they had wasted. Wilkins saw the museum as an opportunity not only to showcase the achievements and contributions of African Americans, but to be an inspiration to the young men and women who saw only a bleak future for themselves.
See the rest of my review on my blog at https://allthebookblognamesaretaken.b...
I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
++++++++
This is yet another ARC that I had put aside in 2017 when life was crazy hectic and I wish I had not. This book is so important to our nation's history and the specific struggle that our African American brothers and sisters have endured in fighting to be recognized as citizens in their own country. This book needs to be taught in all high school history classes.
In this text Robert L. Wilkins tells the story of how the Nation Museum of African American History and Culture finally came into being, after decades of starts and stops, permeated by the latent and outright racism of several players in this saga. Judge Wilkins writes not of the museum itself and the numerous artifacts, oral histories, and exhibits, or the celebrities who lent their time to its creation, but of what it took to actually get the museum built in the first place. He has exhaustively searched archives and all possible repositories of knowledge to find every single instance of attempts to create a museum of African American history and the multiple reasons those plans were halted. This became a kind of obsession for Judge Wilkins, first leading him to cut back on his time as a public defender to devote time to his goal of seeing a museum dedicated to the sacrifice and struggle of African Americans and their place in US history. I think Wilkins job as a public defender really helped him realize his greater purpose and it is something the author touches on at various points. He mentions that the majority of his clients are young black and Hispanic men, many of whom he says don't see a future for themselves when he asks where they see themselves in five years. The heartbreaking answer is that some do not even see themselves as being alive in five years. These young men, many still teenage boys, did not care much to know the history of the Civil Rights Movement, how people died for their right to attend proper schools and get the education they deserved. But, Wilkins also discovered something else: when many of these same boys and young men were incarcerated, they started reading because they had nothing else to do. When they truly learned about all that it took to get the access to that education, it opened their eyes to opportunities they had wasted. Wilkins saw the museum as an opportunity not only to showcase the achievements and contributions of African Americans, but to be an inspiration to the young men and women who saw only a bleak future for themselves.
See the rest of my review on my blog at https://allthebookblognamesaretaken.b...
November 23, 2022
A very worthwhile read. The idea of a museum devoted to Afro-American history began when the “colored” troops who fought in the civil war were not allowed to take part in the “Grand Review” that occurred in Washington, DC in — uh, what year? Wilkins doesn’t say. And that omission, in the first few pages of his book, is just one of the flaws you may notice as you page through.
Despite that discouraging start, I did learn quite a bit. Although I’m still not sure which year that commemorative march occurred, I did learn that the idea for an AA museum was introduced and championed over MANY years by many different persons, who persisted despite racism, bad timing, and bad luck.
(Parenthetical note on a federally managed bit of institutional racism that Wilkins mentions in passing: the Freedman’s Bank, founded during Reconstruction, ultimately failed. And were the hardworking one-time enslaved persons who trusted their pitiful nest eggs to the bank promptly reimbursed with apologies and interest?
No. Their money was gone. Stolen with a fountain pen. End of story, full stop.)
The “location” chapter was the most interesting. I didn’t know of the many locations considered. Eleven locations were considered, the short list had five. The Arts and Industries Building, that charming, inadequate pile of red sandstone, was a strong contender. So was the “Banneker” site near L’Enfant Plaza, and an awkward triangle across Constitution from the East Wing.
Wilkins seems to believe that the site chosen, on the grounds of the Washington Monument, is “on the National Mall.” Umm. I kinda think that the mall’s western border is 14th Street, and that the museum is “just off the Mall” though certainly in a prominent location.
But let’s not argue. It’s a good story, though Wilkins is a lawyer, not a writer. He offers dead wood cliches when evocative details are needed, skimps mightily on illustrations (ONE photo? A few amateurishly annotated maps?), and includes a good amount of his mildly interesting, but not germane, personal story.
PS: the cover features two photos, a deteriorating sharecropper shack and the completed museum. I understand why a story about the national museum features an image of the museum on the cover. Why the shack? Connection between the two images is not obvious and is not explained.
Despite that discouraging start, I did learn quite a bit. Although I’m still not sure which year that commemorative march occurred, I did learn that the idea for an AA museum was introduced and championed over MANY years by many different persons, who persisted despite racism, bad timing, and bad luck.
(Parenthetical note on a federally managed bit of institutional racism that Wilkins mentions in passing: the Freedman’s Bank, founded during Reconstruction, ultimately failed. And were the hardworking one-time enslaved persons who trusted their pitiful nest eggs to the bank promptly reimbursed with apologies and interest?
No. Their money was gone. Stolen with a fountain pen. End of story, full stop.)
The “location” chapter was the most interesting. I didn’t know of the many locations considered. Eleven locations were considered, the short list had five. The Arts and Industries Building, that charming, inadequate pile of red sandstone, was a strong contender. So was the “Banneker” site near L’Enfant Plaza, and an awkward triangle across Constitution from the East Wing.
Wilkins seems to believe that the site chosen, on the grounds of the Washington Monument, is “on the National Mall.” Umm. I kinda think that the mall’s western border is 14th Street, and that the museum is “just off the Mall” though certainly in a prominent location.
But let’s not argue. It’s a good story, though Wilkins is a lawyer, not a writer. He offers dead wood cliches when evocative details are needed, skimps mightily on illustrations (ONE photo? A few amateurishly annotated maps?), and includes a good amount of his mildly interesting, but not germane, personal story.
PS: the cover features two photos, a deteriorating sharecropper shack and the completed museum. I understand why a story about the national museum features an image of the museum on the cover. Why the shack? Connection between the two images is not obvious and is not explained.
November 28, 2021
This was a fascinating, gripping narrative and contributed immensely to my appreciation for the struggle to build the museum. It is dense but concise, with maybe the exception of the chapter devoted to the location selection.
September 16, 2017
A wonderful work of history . Should be required reading in high schools. Well written and documented. Thank you JUDGE ROBERT L. WILKINS.
February 24, 2017
A good book about the history and struggle to create the National Museum of African American History and Culture. No its not about the exhibits or the celebrity backers, it is a look at the historical struggle from 1906 right up to 2006 to get the US Government to commit the land and $ to bring this into fruition. It is worth reading and reflecting on this information. I was surprised by the Presidential Champion, George H.W. Bush, made me actually like the man.
February 21, 2017
I won this historical, educational book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you so much to the author, Judge Robert L. Wilkins!
The accomplishments of people should not be suppressed because of race. Every culture should celebrate with one another all of the contributions to society.
The contributions of one race or individual do not negate or erase the contributions of another.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a beautiful addition to the fight for recognition of the struggles and triumphs of people who society, many times, labels as less than human.
One of my favorite quotes (and really a statement of the purpose of this wonderful publication):
"...The journey of those visionary souls, and the many who would come together over the next one hundred years to bring the dreams of this museum into reality in the face of many obstacles, is a story that deserves recognition and remembrance. It is also a story that deserves a home. That home is Long Hard Road to Truth.
The accomplishments of people should not be suppressed because of race. Every culture should celebrate with one another all of the contributions to society.
The contributions of one race or individual do not negate or erase the contributions of another.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a beautiful addition to the fight for recognition of the struggles and triumphs of people who society, many times, labels as less than human.
One of my favorite quotes (and really a statement of the purpose of this wonderful publication):
"...The journey of those visionary souls, and the many who would come together over the next one hundred years to bring the dreams of this museum into reality in the face of many obstacles, is a story that deserves recognition and remembrance. It is also a story that deserves a home. That home is Long Hard Road to Truth.
December 29, 2016
Very well written, shining a spotlight into a glaring problem in the history of the United States - the inability to give credit for work well done, bravery, anything positive to POC. It's disturbing how hard and long the fight for POC to have their rightful place in history was. This book is excellent documentation of both the deficiencies and the fight to correct them.
Received for review
Received for review
August 20, 2017
It's a quick read but informative if you are into Museum studies and African-American history. I would have liked more development into the political officials and why they opposed it as well as the story from the Smithsonain's perspective. It is one sided but that is to be expected when you have what is essentially an autobiography. Overall, it's a good read if you plan on attending the Museum, live or have visited Washington DC, or enjoy a good success story with African-American issues.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews