A review by travellingcari
A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump by Lonnie G. Bunch III

5.0

This book isn’t linear, but nor was Bunch’s journey to create the National Museum of African American Culture and History on the National Mall. From its inception to opening it was more than a century of stops and starts. Bunch and his leadership team took it the last 12 ish years which involved the presidencies of the younger Bush and Obama, the latter of which Bunch knew from his tenure in Chicago.

I’ve been to the museum but didn’t know anywhere near enough about its creation. I loved the Treasures campaign to build the museum’s collection, and Bunch’s journey to Mozambique to learn about the sunken slave ship the Sao Jose. Though he logged thousands of fundraising miles the local trips to Capitol Hill to secure funding sometimes seemed the most arduous.

A fascinating read whether or not you’ve been to the museum. America needs this museum and this story.