The Smithsonian’s new African American museum in Washington, D.C. has more than 36,000 artifacts and is the only national museum that is “devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture,” according to its website.
One would think, then—especially given that taxpayers funded half of its $540 million price tag—that some especially prominent African Americans like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas would be included.
But, no. Thomas along with eight other prominent African Americans were left out, CNS News discovered.
The reason? “We cannot tell every story in our inaugural exhibitions,” Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian, told CNS News.
Here are the others who were left out:
The other African Americans not included in the museum, who are conservatives, are:
• Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), first African-American senator from the state of South Carolina, the first black Republican elected to the United States Senate since the election of Edward Brooke in 1966, and the first elected from the South since 1881, four years after the end of Reconstruction.
• Cora Brown, first African American woman elected to a United States state Senate, winning a seat in the Michigan State Senate in 1952.
• Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., who served in the Georgia state legislature and is a pro-life advocate with Priests for Life.
• Michael Steele, first African-American chairperson of the Republican National Committee, who served from January 2009 until January 2011.
• Kenneth Blackwell, mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 1979 to 1980, the Ohio State Treasurer from 1994 to 1999, and Ohio Secretary of State from 1999 to 2007.