Behind the Scenes: Reimagining the African American Civil War Museum

Elementary and Secondary Working Group Meeting

May 13, 2023

The May meeting was held at the African American Civil War Museum. Currently, it is undergoing renovations and slated to reopen to the public in 2024. While the museum itself is taking a necessary pause from its typical engagement, the education department, managed by Dawn Chitty, was eager to meet with the upper elementary and secondary working group members. The museum aims to be a place where every D.C. student must pass through during their K-12 learning. With that goal in mind, Chitty guided our educators through a tour of the museum while it’s undergoing renovations. Chitty, who is the visionary behind the museum’s exhibits, painted a vivid picture of the exhibits to come.

She described artifacts that they had secured, including a Civil War era drum that’s in pristine condition and a stove that belonged to an elder relative of Michelle Obama in Chicago. Chitty guided the groups room-by-room to help folks envision how they could use the coming classroom spaces and resource center when they returned to the museum with their students. Folks in the working group — many of whom had visited the museum before the old site closed to the public in order to migrate into the new space — noted how excited they are about the reopening. 

One working group member shared:

Today was very special — it's always an honor to be with Frank Smith and to listen and learn from him.