The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened this weekend in Washington, D. C. The museum, with more than 36,000 artifacts, tells the story of African American life, history, and culture. One display in the museum contains an item or items with a Jewish connection which is tied in some way to Michelle Obama. What is this item or items?
Photograph of the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Alan Karchmer/NMAAHC Copyright ©2016 National Museum of African American History and Culture
A. In the museum’s section on slavery in America, there is a Hebrew Bible which had belonged to a Jewish slaveholder named Solomon Davis, a South Carolina tobacco plantation owner. Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, was enslaved on Davis’s plantation.
B. The museum contains a copy of the speech that Michelle Obama offered at the 2016 Democratic National Convention last July. In her remarks, Mrs. Obama said that the Republican convention had been sadly divisive, noting that “Peace will come when the Republicans love their children more than they hate us.” Mrs. Obama has since been accused by Melania Trump of plagiarizing Golda Meir’s statement about the Arabs, “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”A spokesman for the Obamas defended the First Lady. “Michelle Obama said, ‘Peace will come when the Republicans love their children more than they hate us.’ Twilight Sparkle of My Little Pony said, ‘Peace will come when Pinkie Pie loves Fluttershy and Applejack loves Rainbow Dash.’ There’s no cribbing of Golda Meir’s speech. These were common words and values. She cares about her family. To think that she’d be cribbing Golda Meir’s words is crazy.”
C. In an exhibit about the Obamas there is a letter of recommendation that was written by Rabbi J. H. Margolis of the South Side Hebrew Congregation (now the Central Synagogue of Chicago on the north side of town) on behalf of Michelle Obama’s father, Fraser Robinson, III. As a young man, Robinson had worked as a porter at the synagogue, eventually applying for and obtaining a job at the city water plant. Rabbi Margolis’s letter stated that “Mr. Robinson has shown himself to be a diligent young man, respectful of our people and our culture, and always dedicated to hard work.”
D. One of the major exhibits at the museum is about the Civil Rights movement. Included among the displays is the iconic picture of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. marching in Selma, Alabama in 1965, flanked by John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy, Ralph Bunche and other black leaders, along with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Behind Rabbi Heschel is Pastor Kenneth B. Smith of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. This was the church that Michelle Obama’s family belonged to when she was growing up, as Pastor Smith was Michelle Obama’s uncle. This is also the church that she and President Obama later attended under the leadership of the controversial Pastor Jeremiah Wright.
E. The museum has a display about worship in the African American community that includes a Torah scroll, tallit and shofar which were donated to the museum by Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago. Rabbi Funnye is a cousin of Michelle Obama.