The death of a friend and mentor spurred Robert Wilkins to do something about preserving his heritage.

The result is the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Dec. 16, 2004  Wilkins, a 1986 chemical engineering graduate and now a Washington D.C., attorney, played a key role in getting the museum established.

Robert Wilkens on the Washington Mall near the proposed location of the  the National Museum of AFrican American History and Culture

Under governance of the Smithsonian Institute, the museum will be devoted to documentation of African American life, art, history and culture.  Site selection for the museum is under way.  Wilkins reports the museum will “document and celebrate the contributions of African Americans to this nation in all areas from politics to culture to fine arts to business to invention to sports.”

Multi-media exhibits and artifacts will be part of the museum, Wilkins says.  “It will be up to smarter people than me as to how it comes together.  I’m just an engineer and an attorney who doesn’t know much about those matters.”

What Wilkins does know about is energizing a cause.  His involvement in the museum effort began in 1996 when an African American elder named Louis Fraction at his church died.  “I worked in manhood mentoring program for young men in our church with Brother Fraction,” Wilkins recalls.  “After his death, my wife and I visited with his wife and family, and spent the evening listening to all of the stories of days gone by –segregation, civil rights…great events in the life of the family.

“As I was driving home that night and reflecting on what had been shared, it just caused me to ask the question: ‘Why isn’t there a national museum in Washington dedicated to African American history and culture?’”

The question led Wilkins to the Internet where he “began puttering around” doing research.  He discovered much work had already been done on this topic dating back almost 80 years.

“What I found was the movement died in 1994, and when I became interested, the work was at an ebb,” Wilkins remembers.  “My goal was to re-energize the movement.  I didn’t plan to get involved as deeply as I did.”

Wilkins’ quest moved from the Internet to his basement.  “I gathered some friends from law school and D.C.   We started meeting every month or two in my basement and talked about who to get involved and what strategies should be implemented.”

A non-profit group called National African American Museum & Cultural Complex, Inc., was formed, and Wilkins became head of that organization, eventually quitting his job with the public defender’s office in Washington, D.C., to work full-time on this project.  “It was very much an act of faith.  The non profit didn’t have money for any salary, and my wife was seven months pregnant with our second child.  We went from a two-income family to a one-income family.”

The largest obstacle facing the group was an attitude among some people that “it hasn’t happened before and it isn’t going to happen now,” Wilkins recalls.  “There were a lot of people who really weren’t interested in this because they saw it as a longshot. I, on the other hand, was obsessed with making it happen.”

The death of a friend and mentor spurred Wilkins to do something about preserving his heritage.

At about the same time Wilkins put his obsession into action, renewed interest in the project surfaced in Congress with Senator Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) and then Congressman J.C. Watts (R., Okla.) who began working with longtime museum supporter Congressman John Lewis (D., Ga.).  Wilkins began working with the lawmakers.  He provided background research, helped draft legislation and gathered support through Congress.

The work on Capitol Hill resulted in a 2001 bill to implement the national museum.  It failed, but led to another bill establishing a commission to set up a plan for a museum. 

Wilkins (who now had begun practicing white-collar defense and intellectual property litigation full time with the law firm Venable LLP) was appointed to the commission that included museum experts, historians, business people and prominent citizens such as actress Cicely Tyson and baseball great Hank Aaron.

Commission members were able to take the project to the next level, including an April 2003 action plan titled “The Time has Come” that led to May legislation introduced to establish the museum.  It passed and was signed into law by the president in December.

“We can’t say the mission is accomplished yet…I won’t say that until the doors actually open, but we’ve come a long way,” Wilkins says.

“I feel like I’ve been a part of making history by building this museum,” Wilkins states.  “It is a great reward to be a part of this movement to honor the massive contributions of all these unsung heroes who made it possible for me to go to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Harvard Law School, and to work at a major law firm.”

“I’ve had a very good life in 40 great years, but it’s also been a struggle in a lot of ways because there’s a tendency in human nature to be very quick to judge people or to stereotype them because of the activities of a few,” Wilkins said.  “There’s really too much intolerance.  We definitely see it with racial conflicts, discrimination and religious intolerance.

“Hopefully what this museum can do – like the holocaust Museum – is to let people see for themselves firsthand the dangers of intolerance.  Ultimately we’ve go to understand each other and to respect each other.  I hope that’s what this museum can do.”

“My biggest joy will come when the doors open and I can take my two sons to the museum and they will know their father had a role in it and, hopefully, they will appreciate what the museum stands for and take advantages of the opportunities life has for them.”