Slave Ship (Diaspora)
The replicated hold of a slave ship creates a frame of reference for a clearer understanding of the transatlantic slave trade. As spotlights illuminate the silhouettes of enslaved Africans, the voices of the slaves relate their stories in different African languages.
INSIDE AFRICA
Tuareg Tent (Caravan)
Visitors can observe an actual goatskin tent, the mobile home of a nomadic Tuareg family. Usually a Tuareg woman can pack up and move the contents of an entire household such as this one on two donkeys or one camel in about two hours
Smelting Interactive (Families & Festivals)
Two boys pump air into the bellows of a metal-working furnace. Increasing the air flow intensifies the red glow atop the furnace, indicating the heat necessary to smelt, or separate, valuable metals from impurities in the raw ores.
Well Interactive (Caravan)
At this hands-on display, two teenagers discover getting water from a well is hard work. The interactive pulley simulates the power needed to hoist a 13-gallon bucket of water up 98 feet–approximately one third the length of a football field.
Suburban Family Home (Families & Festivals)
The photographic images of family members in a suburb of Dakar, Senegal welcome visitors to their home. Museum-goers can observe modern domestic life through three-dimensional settings in the family’s courtyard and through videos of the actual courtyard activities.
Camel Adaptation Interactive (Caravan)
Hands-on activities on this camel cutout describe the dromedary’s adaptations to its desert environment: broad feet, built-in visors, long lashes, extra eyelids, slit-like nostrils and an extraordinary ability to conserve water.
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