After decades of trying to establish such a museum, authorization was granted in 2003, a site was selected in 2006, architectural design was approved in 2009 and construction finally began in 2012.

Barrack Obama was a speaker at the groundbreaking ceremony of the museum on February 22, 2012.

The museum is finally going to be declared open on Saturday, September 24, 2016. There will be series of ceremonies to celebrate the grand opening.

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The opening itself will be followed by a week of special events and the museum will be left open to accommodate visitors for extended periods of time outside regular opening hours. President Obama is expected to dedicate the museum.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is one of the Smithsonian Institution's 19 museums.

Since 2003 when the museum was created, officials in charge of it have been collecting items for the museum collection and the items and artifacts have grown to about 33,000 items.

The 2016 collection of the museum include noteworthy items such as some personal effects of Harriet Tubman, the dress Rosa Parks wore on that fateful day she refused to give up her seat on the bus, Muhammed Ali's headgear and many more.