Corrigé p122-123

1) Look at p.122. Look at the poster. You can use the vocab on p.123 if that helps.
•What is it for?
It is a poster exhibit celebrating the opening of National Museum of African American History and
Culture, which is the only national museum exclusively devoted to African Americans.
•Collect clues about the place, the title and the people. What is the aim of this museum?
What do they mean by "all people"?
This museum opened on September 24, 2016 in Washington, DC. The poster exhibition was
organised by the Smithsonian Institution, which is an american institution devoted to scientific
research taking part to many cultural and educative projects. It is mostly managed by the federal
government. This museum collected more than 36 000 artefacts (objects). It had a huge success,
since nearly 100 000 people became members.

2)Read the quote from Barack Obama's inaugural speech.

•What is an inaugural speech? (You can use an online dictionary)
An inaugural speech is a speech made at the opening ceremony of a new cultural, educative,
building, institution, at the launching of an event, or at the election of a new political figure. It
serves to inform the people of the purpose of an event, an institution, or of the intentions of a leader.
•Which groups are listed?
« Black and White, Latino, Native American and Asian American » : all the different « ethnies »
composing american population are mentioned.

•What can you say about American identity and history?

The United-States are a multicultural country, and so very complex in its identity : many different
identities are cohabiting, sometimes mixing together. American history was very cruel for ethnic
minorities such as Afro-Americans of Latinos, and today, a lot of discriminations remains
(exemple : Trump’s big wall between the South of the USA and Mexico). Black Americans are the
children of slaves, and racial segregation is still very recent (Martin Luther King made his speeches
in the 1960s, the story of Rosa Parks in the bus happened in 1955).
•What is Obama's message?
Obama tries to « bound » people together, to create a link between theses groups by reminding that
a common history exists between all the people of the USA, that they share the same background.
Recognising the African American history and culture is recognising African American as parts of
the American history and society, it is recognising that African Americans also forged American
history and society.

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3)Watch the video about Obama's inauguration (video below). Write down a few sentences
about this in your exercise book.
In his speech, Obama explains the importance of History, and the importance of « how it is told ».
He wants, by this museum, remind all the people that forged history, by fighting on the battlefield,
by their sweat and their blood, and who were forgotten by those who wrote history.
He says that «  this national museum helps to tell a richer and fuller story of who we are. ». This
museum helps to bring people together, to better understand each other. The history told in this
museum doesn’t belong only to African American, but to all the people who took part in the
construction of the country.
To conclude, this museum helps people to understand better American identity, to feel part of
something bigger than oneselve, which is a common society.

Trace écrite :
This poster is an ad which aims at promoting a museum about African-American History and
culture in the U.S. This museum is located in Washington D.C., the capital of the U.S., in other
words a place of political power. It was created to share African-American stories. The tagline on
the poster shows the necessity to tell everyone’s story. All voices should be acknowledged and
taken into account.
Inaugurating the museum and setting the tone, Barack Obama explains the purpose of this place.
America is composed of several ethnic groups. He intends to trigger a dialogue between all
American citizens and communities. He explains that Americans all share the same history
regardless of their roots.
Both the poster and the speech are about multiculturalism in American history. It is necessary to
keep in mind and tell all the stories so as to create an honest version of history and a sense of unity
in the country.

To aim at : avoir pour objectif regardless of: quelque soit, indépendamment de

to acknowledge : reconnaître to set the tone : donner le ton
to be devoted to : être consacré à a speech : un discours
to belong to : appartenir à sweat : la sueur 
to bound sth to : lier a tagline : un slogan
to forge : forger, construire take into account : prendre en compte
the launching : le lancement to trigger a dialogue : déclencher le dialogue, pousser
to manage : gérer, administrer le dialogue

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