The General Motors Foundation has donated a $1 million grant to Lonnie G. Bunch, the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum is currently under construction and is slated to open next door to the Washington Monument in late 2015. Oprah Winfrey, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and American Express have already made substantial contributions to the museum.
Construction began on the $500 million museum back in 2012 and the project’s cost will be evenly split between private and public funding. So far, approximately $400 million has been raised. The museum’s collection will be comprised of objects from across the country that come together to tell the stories that make up the African American experience. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum dedicated exclusively to the documentation of African American life, art, history and culture.
