The Collector | Black American treasures from turbulent times go on show in Hong Kong

There is no more hallowed American ground, embracing the country’s history, main institutions, seats of government, memorials and monuments, than the National Mall, in Washington. Stretching from the Lincoln Memorial, going past the Washington Monument’s great needle and ending at the United States Capitol, the mall is flanked by all the great Smithsonian museums, including the National Gallery. A key story, however, had long been missing: that of black Americans in the country’s often bloody history.

The call for a dedicated museum to tell that story was made in 1915, but it was not until the 1970s that it was seriously consider­ed. The allocation of a vacant site on the mall in 2006 and the opening last September of architect David Adjaye’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has enabled the tale to be told. Crowds have flocked to the museum, and entry tickets are sold out until March.

Before this museum opened, private initiatives collected and exhibited original documents and other materials relating to the history of black Americans. Bernard and Shirley Kinsey explain that their collection “grew out of our search to know who we are and where we came from, and a desire to share that knowledge with our son”.

“Rising Above: the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection”, currently showing at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, is a rare opportunity to see original materials and art related to the black-American experience.