The National Museum of African American History and Culture, a 10-floor attraction that just opened in Washington., D.C., reflects stories of pain and progress. "It reaffirms that all of us are America,” President Obama said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. "We gather on our National Mall to tell an essential part of our American story — one that has at times been overlooked." The museum, which opened Sept., 24, has more than 40,000 artifacts and other items. More than 3,000 are on view in exhibits titled "Slavery and Freedom," "The Era of Segregation" and "1968 and Beyond." Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jenice Armstrong calls it "an emotional roller-coaster through time."

Storytelling begins with a descent into historical darkness -- the birth of transatlantic slave ship voyages. Haunting artifacts include rusted iron shackles and an actual slave cabin transported north from a South Carolina plantation. Culture galleries include tributes to author James Baldwin, rocker Chuck Berry, George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic and pop king Michael Jackson. There's also a gritty, spray-painted salute to the birth of hip-hop, accompanied by synthesized rhymes of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.

Flashing forward to this century, the sprawling new affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution has displays about President Obama's presidential campaigns and scenes from the Black Lives Matter Movement against police brutality. A sports gallery features items from tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams, Olympians Gabby Douglas and Carl Lewis, and boxer Muhammad Ali. The overall impact is powerful and uplifting, visitors say. "It reminded me of my ancestors," comments Lisa Wilmore of Detroit. "We all struggled to get where we are.”

President says: "African-American history is not somehow separate from our larger American story, it's not the underside of the American story, it is central to the American story." – At opening ceremony

Curator says: "This is a shared history. This is an important history. It's an American story, but it's told through the African-American lens." -- Mary Elliott, Smithsonian Institution

Visitor says: "You can't visit here and not think about what's going on today, and the sense of history and struggle." -- Bishop Paul L. Walker of Rockville, Md.