JUNE 13 • 2024 | 11

the section on Anne Frank. “I’ve 
always been obsessed with her 
story,” she said, and later bought 
an “I Stand with Anne” bracelet at 
the gift shop. Many of the students 
were glued to the large nonstop 
video loop of Jewish survivors telling 
their heartbreaking stories in the 
“Testimonials” room. Each story was 
astonishing and heroic, but what 
particularly gripped the students, 
they later reported, was how ordinary 
each person seemed. 
The group quietly left the museum 
after the tour. There was much to 
process, but that would have to 
wait until later. The mood then 
lightened with a trip to the National 
Mall, where the students visited the 
Washington Memorial, the Martin 
Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Lincoln 
Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial, 
and got a chance to stroll at their own 
leisure, take photos and just enjoy 
each other’s company.

AFRICAN AMERICAN
HISTORY AND CULTURE
Day Two was another whirlwind 
day, starting with a visit to the U.S. 
Capitol for an abbreviated tour of 
the Rotunda and Statuary Hall, and 
then off to the main event of the day, 
the National Museum of African 
American History and Culture. 
The museum is the world’s largest 
African American museum, with five 
stories below ground and five stories 
above ground. There are over 40,000 
diverse artifacts, including such items 
as Frederick Douglass’ cane, slave 
shackles (for adults and children), an 
authentic plantation cabin, the ballast 
of a slave ship, Nat Turner’s bible, 
Joe Louis’ boxing gloves and Louis 
Armstrong’s trumpet. 
Most of the exhibits are multi-me-
dia and sensory, with sounds, video 
screens and lighting that immerses 
the visitors in the experience. The 
exhibit on the transatlantic slave 
trade — where nearly 13 million 
African men, women and children 
were kidnapped and transported to 
the Americas over the course of 300+ 
years — is covered with large elec-
tronic maps and rare artifacts that 

“OBVIOUSLY, ALL OF US ARE GROWING UP 
IN DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES, BUT IT’S 
BEEN A BLESSING TO BE ABLE TO COME 
TOGETHER AND APPRECIATE EACH OTHER.”

— CALEB STARR, A JUNIOR AT FRANKEL JEWISH ACADEMY

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