Premature Thoughts & Living Beyond The Light: Intern Day Off: African American War Museum

I was off today because the American Public Health Association follows the work schedule of the federal government. They would be bad storms so no one would be coming to work.

It was my first day off so I had to find something to do. I decided to go to the African American War Museum on U Street. I learned so much and I appreciated the strength of these African-American soldiers who fought for their freedom. One of the tour guides explained this exhibit is for people to see the Emancipation Proclamation is not the only reason African-Americans are free but they demanded and fought for themselves.

A poster when you first walk in

The museum is an overview from Africans in the Atlantic slave trade to the reconstruction era. It's amazing how slavery is depicted as evil and that's not the only thing. Slavery was a business and that's why there was a civil war. If you free the slaves then you affect the economy America was built on and a great example would be immigration. The tour guide gave this example and it fits perfectly. If you free the slaves then they will do the work Americans refuse to do and they'll do it at a cheaper price. This affects the economy because now Caucasians are losing out on jobs.

The beautiful followers at the memorial

Also, African-Americans were fights for the Patriots and the Loyalists in hopes of freedom. If you fight you will be free but you might die! Now that is life or death. About 620,000 soldiers died according to civilwar.org . African-American were treated as property and many were in contraband camps where they would wash the soldiers clothes. There's a lot of history in this exhibit and if you're a history major you will really appreciate it. It's right next to the metro station. Make sure you visit if you haven't and it's free so you can go again.