• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

Angola’s President João Lourenço Had A 'Profoundly Emotional' Visit to NMAAHC

Accompanied by his wife, President Lourenço shared his experience seeing the exhibits on slavery and the Middle Passage.
Angola’s President João Lourenço Had A ‘Profoundly Emotional’ Visit to NMAAHC
By Kevin L. Clark · Updated September 24, 2021

Accompanied by his wife Ana Dias Lourenço, Angola’s President João Lourenço toured the Smithsonian African American History Museum on Monday in Washington, D.C. to experience the slavery and middle passage exhibits.

It was President Lourenço’s first time at the Blacksonian, which he marked as a “profoundly emotional” moment in his life.

“The suffering that our brothers went through in the time of slavery touches us deeply,” he said through an interpreter after a private tour. “For this reason, we have to establish a closer relationship between our African countries and our diaspora, part of which is here in the United States of America.”

President Lourenço met with Vincent A. Tucker, the president of the William Tucker 1624 Society, and other members of the Tucker family, who are believed to be descendants of the first Africans to arrive in the Virginia colonies in 1619 on a ship that left from Angola.

“This is history that is part of our common history,” he said. “As Africans and Africans in the diaspora, we’ve seen the whole suffering that our ancestors went through in the time of slavery and that was very touching and profoundly emotional.”

President Lourenço invited the Tucker family to visit Angola to share their experience and family history with the country’s National Archive, universities, and Angolan communities.

“The idea is really to keep the connection on both sides,” Lourenço said.

Mary Elliot, the curator of the museum’s Slavery and Freedom exhibit, showed the couple the image of Queen Njinga Mbandi, depicted by French illustrator Achille Deveri, and served as a representation of how free Angolans fought against slavery during her mid-1600s reign.

It is the first image visitors see at the start of the museum’s slavery exhibits, centering Angola’s position at the beginning of that part of the American story.

TOPICS:  black museum
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now