Six months in and 1.2 million visitors later, the lineups at the National Museum of African American History and Culture aren’t getting any shorter.
One of the main reasons: visitors are spending an average of six hours per visit.
The average time people usually spend at the museums across the country is 90 minutes to three hours.
Associate Director for External Affairs, Beverly Morgan-Welch, said it’s an unusual problem for a museum to have.
“It is really because our visitors are so engaged,” she said. “Many of them feel like they’re on a pilgrimage. Many of them are first-time museum goers and people want to return again and again.”
Cristal Cruz visited the museum for the first time Friday with fellow college students from the Bronx. She was emotional about the experience.
“Personally I am so, there’s no words to explain how I feel about this because of the fact that I am an activist, I work to bring people together. Personally it’s inspiring,” Cruz said.
Chesson and Tara Duncan from California bought their tickets a year ago. They spent Thursday at the museum, then decided to go back again Friday to see if they could wait in line for walk-in tickets.
“It was so meaningful to get a sense of all the progress we’ve made from the beginning til now, it’s something,” Duncan said. “We feel more connected to the choices we make in our everyday lives.”
The museum expects to reach 3.5 million visitors by the end of the year.
