The World's First Colonization Museum

From the brutal Age of Exploration and its impact across the globe, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and its impact in Africa, Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean, and the various genocidal wars of decolonization (not exclusively), the museum will provide detailed interactive content, compelling narratives and colonization will be examined in depth and brought to life through film, images, and first-person narratives.

Situated on a site where indigenous tribal Indian men, women, and children were slaughtered and enslaved Black people were forced to labor in bondage, UNCM Museum will offer an immersive experience with cutting-edge technology, world-class art, and critically important scholarship about world history.  

Along with the world’s first and only international memorial dedicated to victims of colonization around the world, the museum will present a unique opportunity for visitors to reckon with challenging aspects of our past. Colonization in Americas, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe - the five separate but interlinked wings of the Museum will include hundreds of sculptures and original animated short films narrated by award-winning artists from around the world.

An entire wing of the museum will explore the economics of colonization, the role of the League of Nations, and subsequently the United Nations Trusteeship Council in the violent enslavement of indigenous peoples of the Trust Territories, sexual violence against women and children in the colonies, the commodification of people, and the desperate efforts colonized people made to gain independence.

An expansive exhibit on the brutal assassination, of prominent pro-independence leaders around the world will document in detail timeline, short films, and first-person narrative accounts.

The museum's expansive content on the various wars of independence will be housed in a wing that examines the role of media during the era of racial terror by means of colonization. The last words of dying war victims will dramatize the suffering colonization imposed on entire communities. Facts about the starving to death of children will also help visitors understand the scale of terror and violence many families endured.

Visitors will hear first-person accounts from descendants of murdered pro-independence leaders and descendants of victims of some of the worst wars of independence, and learn about the heroic effort to challenge colonization that was led by legendary decolonization activists, including Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, Dr William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (W.E.B. Du Bois), and Kwame Nkrumah the father of modern Pan-Africanism.

The museum will bring to light various courageous decolonization movements that confronted colonization and eventually made new superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, to finally take positions against colonization.

Instrumental campaigns that confronted colonization, including Apartheid and Racial Segregation will be presented with an extensive exploration of the boycott campaigns and the Anti-Apartheid Movements. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the work of legendary civil rights activists will be showcased.  

The iconography of colonization as the global face of racism will be dramatically presented in a collection of actual signs and notices collected from around the world. RHI will compile colonial laws and statutes that codified racism worldwide for visitors to read and experience.

A wing on the disenfranchisement of Black Soldiers will feature the Forgotten Colonial Forces of World War II for example that the Allied powers relied on to defeat the Axis but were never recognized. This wing will feature in the museum as a central component of how equal rights were undermined throughout the colonization era.

Colonial forces fought in every theater of World War II - from North Africa to Europe, and as far east as Hong Kong. They died and went missing in the tens of thousands, but despite their sacrifices, they were never treated as equals. These colored forces were largely under the command of White officers, although they were skilled fighters and even helped patrol the streets of London, Paris, Brussels etc. It was difficult for them to move up the ranks and become officers. Their compensation was far less than that of their White peers, and it worsened the darker their skin was.

Visitors will learn about some of the worst civil wars/conflicts around the world and how their origin is embedded in the way colonial powers drew national boundaries, forcefully merging peoples of different religions and ethnic groups together.  

The Reflection Space will honor hundreds of people who worked throughout their lives to challenge colonization (racial injustice). In a grand space that will feature world music and powerful images, the history of struggle will inspire all to reflect on what we can do to make a difference.

The Museum will include a world-class art gallery with major works from some of the most celebrated artists from around the world. The gallery will include pieces created specifically for the UNCM Museum, and its entire collection will be curated in dialogue with the museum's historical narrative.

Collaborations with Western and non-Western world music - quasi-traditional, intercultural, and traditional music will explore the role of music and dance in understanding our world's history and the role of the arts.

As a physical site and an outreach program, the Museum will be an engine for education about the legacy of colonization and racial inequality and for the truth and reconciliation that will lead to real solutions to contemporary problems.

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