VCU news

By Brian McNeill

John W. Franklin, director of partnerships and international programs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution, will visit Virginia Commonwealth University to discuss the role of museums in addressing healing, history and culture.

Franklin will speak Thursday, April 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Depot, 814 W. Broad St. The event will be free and open to the public.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., will open to the public on Sept. 24. The 400,000-square-foot museum on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th streets N.W. will offer visitors exhibitions and programs that explore the story of the United States through the lens of the African-American experience.

Franklin’s talk is co-sponsored by the Department of African American Studies and the Department of History in the College of Humanities and Sciences, as well as the Department of Painting and Printmaking in the School of the Arts.