'Wealth In Africa'
First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIL BRO AND GYASI! (September 19)
The first metro journey was so much fun but also required a lot of preparation. Before we went on the journey, we were emailed questions dealing with an 18th century Helmet Mask from the Benin Kingdom, located at the National Museum of African Art, and also asked about the 'Wealth in Africa' exhibit located in the National Museum of Natural History. As a team, we emailed back and forth about our plan for the day and information we discovered.
On the day of our trip, I woke up more exited than I thought I would be. I met up with Eliza- Jane and Nadia Fogg, and Leslie Russel at the metro station. Together we rode the train to the Smithsonian station to meet with Gyasi and Kai Clemons. The first part of the challenge: getting there safely, done!
Finding the African Art Museum wasn't hard, but finding our way around the museum proved to be challenging. We were told to embark on a tour to find our information so when we got there, we asked for information about the next available tour. THEY DON'T DO TOURS ON THURSDAY! Just our luck. We had to improvise. Grabbing maps for everyone, we went on a quest to find the Disney exhibit, and easily discovered it.
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| Being Silly at National Museum of African Art |
Next, THE MASK WE WERE LOOKING FOR WASN'T THERE! Brilliant! Luckily, I brought a page of questions we were supposed to answer, and in unity, we discovered awesome artifacts. First off, an artifact called the Finial, which displayed a man sitting on a throne, displayed wealth because in Africa a seated position meant power and wealth. Next, we found the Diviner's Bag. This bag was beautiful! I might have to get me one of these. It was purely made out of only embroidery beads. This bag displayed wealth because only kings were allowed to carry such opulent purses.
Also, we found other artifacts like a spoon carved out of beautiful marble, and a piece called Healing History; Salt and Sand. The piece beautifully displayed ancient artifacts of Africa such as shoes, books, and spoons hanging on a wall and demonstrated how Africa healed itself with a poem by Shakespeare written behind these artifacts on the wall.
After our lunch break, we made our way to the National Museum of Natural History to check out the 'Wealth in Africa' exhibit. We found so many amazing artifacts but since the focus was on the wealth, I want to point out an artifact that stood out to me greatly. This was a throne. It was entitled the 'Chair of Power.' Looking at the ivory pattern on this chair, one would discover that this Swahili chair belonged to a wealthy powerful family. This chair stood out to me because of the regal prominence it added to the exhibit. Before I studied African culture, I thought Africans sat on the ground 'criss cross apple sauce.' When I saw this chair, it occurred to me that, of course Africans were smart enough to build their own chair! Believing that Africans were not smart enough to build there own chair is just a realization of how we view Africa through the eyes of Eurocentric culture and beliefs. How deceptive is that?
PHOTO CHALLENGE! Every time we go on a metro journey, we have picture quests that our teacher gives us. This time we had to take a picture of the youngest member of our group, Kai, on a member of the equine species. We could be as creative as we wanted, so all the girls decided to ride the Merry Go- Round in DC! We were such little kids, laughing and fighting over which horse we wanted! The picture on the left depicts Kai and me on the merry go round, smiling and having so much fun! 
I had immense fun on this first metro journey and learned so much! I was a little nervous, but with the days of dedicated class preparation, we ventured in and out, and shared many laughs on the way! I cannot wait until next month. I wonder where our quest will take us next?
