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National Museum of African American History and Culture installs first exhibition items

The National Museum of African American History and Culture will install two of its iconic objects in the museum Sunday, Nov. 17. The museum’s Southern Railway Car and Angola Prison Tower, each part of the museum’s inaugural exhibition on segregation, are too large to install after the building is complete. Rather, these objects will be installed during construction and the museum will be completed around them.

The tower and rail car will arrive from an off-Mall Smithsonian facility beginning around 7 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 17. Both objects will be lifted via crane from trucks on Constitution Avenue into the construction site and placed in their permanent locations within the museum. Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th streets will be closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic during this time.