BIG-designed National Juneteenth Museum receives $1 million grant

2023-08-09T13:45:00-04:00

Bank of America has awarded a $1 million grant towards the development of the National Juneteenth Museum, designed by BIG. The money will contribute to the project’s estimated $70 million price tag. Located in Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood, the museum will serve as an epicenter for awareness and preservation of Juneteenth’s history. It also aims to revitalize the surrounding area by acting as an economic catalyst.

The 50,000-square-foot museum takes on a handcrafted design, utilizing materials such as heavy timber. It also draws on the local architecture of gabled rooftops. The structure’s undulating roof results in a series of peaks and valleys that combine to form a star-shaped courtyard in the middle of the museum. In addition, the building will feature 10,000 square feet of exhibit galleries, a 250-seat theater to host lectures, a speaker series, performances, and more, a black box, a business incubator for local entrepreneurs, and a food hall featuring local vend...

Statues of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman unveiled in Maryland capitol

2020-02-24T11:04:00-05:00

At a time when states are debating the removal of Confederate monuments, Maryland unveiled bronze statues of famed abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass during a ceremony Monday night in the Maryland State House. The life-sized statues were dedicated during a special joint session of the Maryland General Assembly in the Old House Chamber, the room where slavery was abolished in the state in 1864.

According to ABC News, the statues were dedicated during Black History Month and have been made to show Tubman and Douglass as they would have appeared in age and dress in 1864.

Harriet Tubman. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines. Via marylandmatters.org

"A mark of true greatness is shining light on a system of oppression and having the courage to change it," ABC News reports Adrienne Jones, the state's first black and first female House speaker saying in regards to the new installment. "The statues are a reminder that our laws aren’t always right or just. But there’s always room for improvement."

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BIG-designed National Juneteenth Museum receives $1 million grant

Statues of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman unveiled in Maryland capitol