Plans are still underway for the anticipated opening of the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, and with a recent generous donation of $500,000 from The Boeing Company, the Museum is one step closer to opening.
“Boeing is committed to supporting and giving back to the communities where our employees live and work,” said Tim Keating, Boeing’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. “Through our investment in this important museum of African American history and identity, we at Boeing hope to play a key role in helping tell the story of the largely overlooked history of African Americans in the Charleston area.”
The Boeing charitable contribution to the museum is in addition to a $250,000 donation made in 2011 and will be used to support the creation of the Family Heritage Center associated with the IAAM.
In an interview with TNJ.com, back in 2013, Felicia Easterlin, then-IAAM Program Manager, told writer Ann Brown that the groundbreaking is expected in 2016 with the museum?s opening in 2018.?
The International African American Museum aims to re-center South Carolina’s place in global history, illuminating its role in the international slave trade and the Civil War. The museum will connect visitors to their ancestors, demonstrating how enslaved Africans and free blacks shaped economic, political, and cultural development in the nation and beyond.
“This generous gift from Boeing takes us one step closer to the International African American Museum,” said Joseph Riley, Jr., mayor of Charleston. “Boeing is, again, a generous corporate neighbor, making sure that our community can share our rich and meaningful history with the people of the Lowcountry and the world.”
