A site for homecoming and pilgrimage at the new International African American Museum

The museum features nine galleries that contain nearly a dozen interactive exhibits of more than 150 historical objects and 30 works of art. — Photos: AP

When the International African American Museum opened to the public last month in South Carolina, it became a new site of homecoming and pilgrimage for descendants of enslaved Africans whose arrival in the Western Hemisphere began on the docks of the lowcountry coast.

Overlooking the old wharf in Charleston at which nearly half of the enslaved population first entered North America, the 14,000sq m museum houses exhibits and artefacts exploring how African Americans’ labour, perseverance, resistance and cultures shaped the Carolinas, the nation and the world.