OMA Hosts Trip to Historic Museum in DC

To recognize the 400th year of American slavery and the first recorded disembarkment of enslaved Africans in North America, 17 students boarded a bus headed to Washington DC on an Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) sponsored excursion.According to English Instructor Courtney Marshall, the trip was initially inspired by The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 project. The issue, released Aug. 14, “aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are,” according to the project’s website.OMA chose to acknowledge this historic milestone with a trip for students. “Within 400 years rests a rich history; untapped, sanitized, misunderstood, painful, liberating, lived, present, essential,” Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sami Atif wrote in an email to the student body prefacing the trip.Students departed from campus on Friday, Oct. 18 from Tan Lane at 5:30 a.m. and arrived in Washington DC late that afternoon. The next day, students toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The trip concluded the following morning, and students returned to Exeter for Monday classes.The central structure of the National Museum of African American History and Culture mirrors the passage of time from the beginning of slave trade to the present. Each floor commemorates a different aspect of African American history in America, from a tribute to the Middle Passage on the ground floor to one of Michelle Obama’s dresses.The museum also featured the exhibition “Power of Place,” which explored African American narratives from across the nation, according to the Museum’s website.  “In the exhibition, visitors learn that place is about geography—but also about memory and imagination. People make places even as places change people.”Marshall explained the volume of work stored in the museum. “This was my first time going and I think I only saw a quarter of the museum, which just means I get to go back,” she said. “Each part of the museum stored different artifacts and information like Harriet Tubman’s shall and dresses made by enslaved people.”The location of the museum itself struck senior Kiki Aguilar. “Surrounded by government buildings that represented freedom and liberty such as the Lincoln Memorial, the museum stands in contrast [to] its purpose,” she said. “Freedom wasn't given to the enslaved until long after the republic was formed and it is important to name that distinction.”Smaller aspects of the museum particularly struck students, like lower Anne Chen.  “Although I knew some of the information I saw in the museum, seeing the artifacts in front of me was shocking,” she said. “Sometimes it was in a good way, like seeing Charlie Parker's old saxophone, and sometimes it was humbling but needed. There were receipts showing slave sales, bloodstained maps from the Underground Railroad and of course, Emmett Till’s memorial.”Attending the museum and the trip as a whole is a unique opportunity, English Instructor Wei-Ling Woo expressed. “I think we are incredibly lucky to have the resources to take a trip as far as DC to visit this important museum,” she said. “Tickets are very hard to obtain and we were lucky to be able to take such a big group of students.”  For students, attending the museum meant missing Friday classes and, for lower and uppers, the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT). Despite these appointments, Chen believes that attending the trip was the right choice. “I thought it was definitely worth missing the PSAT for, especially because I’m a lower,” she said. “The bus ride was eleven hours each way, which was so time consuming, but I’d say that was worth it too.”The trip was also an opportunity to meet new students, senior Alphonso Bradham said. “I spent time with people who I probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to connect with otherwise and spent time reflecting with them at the museum,” he said.Though the trip was successful, Marshall believes more students could have attended. “I wish more students had gone, but I understand there were PSATs last weekend,” she said. “I hope this isn’t the last trip to the museum since students I talked to regretted not being able to attend.”“To see a whip, to step into a segregated car and also see Ida B. Wells’s tea set is an experience—these are big historical events, but there is also a personal element to this all,” Marshall concluded. “It was like feeling like I submerged in this presence and I hope we can bring back that feeling to campus.”