Geoff Bennett:

The museum is situated where Gadsden's Wharf once stood, the site where an estimated 40 percent of all American enslaved Africans arrived in the U.S.

It's estimated that, between 1710 and 1808, upwards of 150,000 captive Africans landed at the many ports throughout the Charleston Harbor, including Gadsden's Wharf. A memorial garden under the building marks that historic site. The museum opened in June after 20 years of planning with a number of delays.

Galleries include African Roots, which traces the movement of people of African descent throughout the Atlantic world, American Journeys, which shares stories that shaped U.S. history through the international lens of the African diaspora.

Carolina Gold showcases the impact of enslaved people on South Carolina plantations who helped build the lucrative rice industry, while the Gullah Geechee exhibit looks at contemporary issues facing these descendants of West and Central Africans, who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. and includes this replica of a praise house.

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