New S.F. Museum Explores African Diaspora

In light of all the African-American history archives damaged or destroyed due to hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, this museum opening is good news. I've never been to California, but the MoAD looks like it would be well worth a visit.

November 26,2005 | SAN FRANCISCO -- A new museum dedicated to Africa's history and influence opened Saturday in a neighborhood that's fast becoming the city's cultural center.

The Museum of the African Diaspora is aimed at exploring how Africa, where some of the oldest human remains have been discovered, has influenced the world as people left the continent and settled elsewhere.

"Just the way that 'Roots' made us think about our ancestry, we hope this museum will help deepen people's understanding of their place in the human family and evolution," said Belva Davis, president of the museum's board of directors.

The museum, known as MoAD, depicts the struggle and violence that has marked the African continent and the human experience.

Its displays range from ancient stone tools found in Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge to contemporary African art depicting the exploitation of black women. An oral history project will collect stories from Hurricane Katrina survivors who relocated to the Bay Area.

The three-story museum opened near the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Yerba Buena Gardens in the heart of downtown.

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