The Boeing Company is contributing $5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. to be used in support of the design and construction of the museum.
Boeing is the largest donor to date for the NMAAHC. The museum was established in December 2003, when President Bush signed legislation establishing the museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution. It will be built on a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets, NW. The museum is scheduled to open in December 2015 at a cost of about $500 million.
Boeing leaders joined Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-WA); Cristián Samper, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian; and Lonnie G. Bunch III, Founding Director, NMAAHC, in making the announcement today.
"As a founding donor for the Museum, Boeing will fund efforts to bring together representatives from existing African-American history museums and community leaders throughout the country to share ideas about what this new museum will represent and what it will contain," said Tod Hullin, Boeing senior vice president, Public Policy, who represented Boeing at the event.
"We are grateful to Boeing for its support of our commitment to educate, engage and motivate people -- all people -- to pay attention to this nation and to the unique role African Americans played in its growth," said Bunch, "Having the Boeing company join us so early in the development of this museum helps bolster our belief that the work of this museum is too important to wait until the museum is built. With Boeing as a member of our institutional family, we are poised to move forward with work already started in the areas of building collections, building audiences and indeed, building a museum."
"At Boeing we feel strongly that the key to success, both in business and in the community, is people working together, offering their diverse perspectives and experiences," added Hullin. "That is what this grant is designed to foster, so that this museum will be truly representative of African American history and culture."
