THE "FRONT LAWN OF THE NATION"

14TH STREET AND CONSTITUTION AVENUE, N.W.

The exact location for the United States Slavery Museum should be on the Mall across from The Museum of American History - the space between 14th and 15th Streets N.W. (running north and south) and between Constitution Avenue and Madison Street, N.W. (running east and west).  Once known as

About the Project Site The Slavery Museum project... 14th Street and Constitution Avenue in the shadow of the Washington Monument

"Black Broadway", the 14th Street corridor served the Shaw neighborhood in Washington, D.C. as a vital retail and entertainment area.  It also was a major stopping point, along with 7th Street N.W., for blacks coming to the Washington area from the south during the great migration period of the 1920's and 1940's. It is fitting that a link should exist between the national monumental core and the historical black community core of Washington, D.C. at one of the primary junctions between the two, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W..

THE MALL IN WASHINGTON, D.C. , existing thematically as the nation's "front lawn" contains buildings on the periphery which promote dialogue concerning contributions to the American society by its citizens.  Each national aspect emphasized (History, Art, Science/Technology) has a prominent yet specific position within the building alignment and formation. There is a beginning and an end. The Museum of American History has been placed at what could be considered the beginning of the national monumental/institutional building core. It is precisely because of this exact placement that an institutional structure dedicated to the thesis of the non-immigrant black in America, i.e., Slavery and Apartheid, be placed along side or in conduction with the history building. 

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, while serving as the United States seat of democracy was simultaneously and ironically a site for the shipping, off-loading and selling of slaves.

THE EAST COAST CORRIDOR of the United States East served as the site for the federal seat of government (New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington D.C.) and the authority regarding national issues.  Slavery as an issue was kept alive on the east coast particulary as many cities along its corridor served as sites for the off-loading and interstate shipping of slaves (Boston, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C. and Sullivan's Island near Charleston, South Carolina).

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , established as a response against monarchial tyranny directed against English colonies in America became the site for black African slave labor beginning in the early 17th century and not ending until the United States Civil War (1861-1865) ended its national legality.

THE WORLD, from approximately 1508 through the early part of the 19th century, was the setting of the slave trade. The Western world and all its colonies and possessions existed as the source for the perpetration of the African slave trade. This forcible act of uprooting and displacing of millions of black Africans caused an irreparable rift between these unknown ancestors and their descendants of today. Ancestral knowledge is important, especially to most Americans who can trace their past to immigrants, those who came to America of free will. Conversely, there was no free-will for the blacks who were brought as slaves from Africa.