SENEGALESE MUSEUM OF BLACK CIVILIZATIONS AN AFRICAN PRIDE

Images by Museum of Black Civilizations

From the beginning, Africans are known to own the niche of creative sense of aesthetic art in the world. Following this discovery, freedom of many Africans and artifacts were stolen through the emergence of superiority game called ‘’Slave Trade’’ as generation upon generation passed by, the African sense of identity that sinks deep into the unpleasant river of past tragedies began to find its way back home. Today, the pride of Africans and achievements are celebrated through global black civilizations.

Many years ago Senegal’s first president and a poet, Leopold Sedar Senghor presented a post-colonial cultural vision and ascended the steps of the National Assembly in Dakar to declare his country the temporary capital of Black Civilization at the launch of the World Festival of Black Arts according Aljazeera website. Now Senghor’s vision has finally been realized following the opening of the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar early December last year by the current Senegal President Macky Sall. The 14 000 sqm of floor space capacity and 18,000 exhibits puts the facility in league with the National Museum of African American History in Washington. The project which was inspired by traditional homes in Southern Senegal is here, serving as a creative laboratory and helping to shape the continent’s sense of identity. The exclusive museum now documents and celebrates artifacts from global black civilizations as well as achievements of Africans and the members of the African diaspora.

Designed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, to showcase contemporary African art and tells the story of trade in human beings across the Atlantic and through the Sahara that gave rise to new communities of Africans in the Americas. The Chinese signage in the museum’s concrete back room is a reminder that it was built in part due to a large financial donation from the Chinese about $30 million through their latest projection of soft-power on the continent of Africa. While most people welcomed the museum as a powerful symbol of Senegalese cultural decolonization from France, others see China’s involvement as cunning economic colonialism.