Means to be american. Sudden and since, the best museums in history help us recognize that the story that we tell, regardless of what the community is, the stories of us and inform us will make us better as a nation. I think part of what youre doing is you are illuminating some of the dark corners of the american experience. In many ways, the discussion around slavery, slave trade, and really the origin of americas contested. Some people dont want to have these conversations. Yet, i would argue that you cant understand who you are as americans, not understanding that early history. You cant understand how our politics, really our foreign policy, our culture was shaped by slavery and struggles over slavery. In many, ways i think the work that you are doing is really valuable because it really allows us to understand something that often we dont Pay Attention to. The other piece i think is so important is that part of what we are trying to do is make sure that people understand how this