Gates Foundation Offers $10 Million to Build African American Museum

It’s the ultimate act of charity. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charitable fund in the world, is giving $10 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture planned for the National Mall in Washington, according to Associated Press. The grant will go towards the design and construction of the new museum, making the stories and history of African-Americans available to everyone.

Groundbreaking will begin in 2012, and the opening on the Mall is slated for 2015. Construction is expected to cost about $500 million, with half the funds to be provided by Congress.

The museum, which will be situated on five acres opposite the grounds of the Washington Monument and include a research facility of the Smithsonian Institution.-WLW