The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has opened a new exhibit marking the nation’s past 250 years.
Called “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness,” it features 250 artifacts and adds live performances to create a more immersive visitor experience.
“When most people think of the Smithsonian, they think of the research we’ve done and the cool stuff we’ve collected,” said Julie Garner, creative director of theater programs at the National Museum of American History. “But theater specialists like myself and my team, we interpret the people and their histories and we bring their voices to life.”
Garner told WTOP the three programs they offer this summer support different learning styles, especially for visitors who learn by observing and listening.
“They leave you with a feeling which creates a memory, which really makes that history and research and scholarship stick, because it’s a really engaging and participatory experience,” Garner said.
Three rotating theater programs will run throughout the summer for America’s 250th birthday, with three to six performances daily lasting about 30 minutes.
One program, “Shout,” highlights the religious tradition of ring shouts, developed in enslaved communities in the 18th and 19th centuries. Performers Kecia Deroly and Sia Li Wright show how its rhythms connect to modern music, including Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and songs by Lauryn Hill.
‘The ring shout, like many African American religious expressions, included Christian and Muslim traditions, as well as West African forms of worship, like the Akan and Yoruba religions,” said Deroly.
Ring shouts are still practiced today by the Gullah Geechee culture, descendants of Africans who were enslaved on plantations in the barrier islands along the lower Atlantic coast, including parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
“Even though we are telling stories of oppression, we are also telling the stories of enslaved people who find joy through oppression,” Deroly told WTOP.
Another program, “Meet the Wheelwoman,” features Susie Alden highlighting the popularity of bicycles in the 1890s.
“I ride this antique 1898 bicycle around the floor of the museum … still functional, still rideable,” Alden said.
She said the program emphasizes how bicycles changed women’s lives, improving, independence and opportunity.
“I’ll talk about, specifically, connections between the bicycle boom of the 1890s and women’s liberation, and how that led to things and contributed to things like suffrage, changing clothing patterns, changing social norms, changing dating habits,” Alden told WTOP. “This bicycle is allowing ladies to go be independent, which a lot of people were worried about at first.”
The third program, “Broad Stripes and Bright Stars,” introduces Mary Young Pickersgill, the seamstress who hand-sewed the Star Spangled Banner, which inspired the lyrics to the national anthem. The original flag is also housed at the museum.
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