In a review for The New York Times, art critic Holland Cotter wrote, "The extremely complex narrative, with uplift and tragedy seemingly on a fixed collision course, spreads over five floors of galleries", and that it "holds some of the oldest and most disturbing material."
Cotter added that "It's great that the museum mixes everything together: It means you can't just select a comfortable version of history."
He concluded, "[I] hope, actually — that the museum will never be finished, or consider itself so; that its take on African-American history, which is American history, stays fluid, critical and richly confused: real, in other words."

The Wall Street Journal's critic at large, Edward Rothstein, suggested that "even a full day's visit is insufficient for a careful survey.
That alone is an imposing achievement".
Rothstein wrote that the "museum is illuminating, disturbing, moving—and flawed".
He wrote that we "see the evolution of African-American newspapers, businesses, churches and other institutions.
Galleries devoted to music and sports make it plain how much African-American history and culture is simply American history and culture."
He also wrote that there is a "reluctance, too, to cast doubt on one perspective or another, or to give a nuanced assessment of conflicts.
The actual doctrines of Elijah Muhammad, a leader of the Nation of Islam and mentor to Malcolm X, are unmentioned.
And, more troubling, the Black Panthers are characterized as if they were defensively armed social workers, a PC view of radicalism that recurs in other contexts.".
Museum reviewer Diana Muir, while criticizing the Museum for repeatedly misleading visitors by failing to put facts in "comparative perspective" a deficiency that "misleads curators into making sweeping claims like the assertion in the introductory room that before 1400 "slavery was a temporary status," nevertheless concluded that "Taken as a whole, however, the NMAAHC shows that it is possible to do an identity museum well, to build a museum on a foundation of rigorous scholarship that can inform, excite, and even inspire."

The lack of material on Justice Clarence Thomas drew criticism and prompted the introduction of a resolution by six GOP senators which argued that Thomas should have a "prominent place" in the museum.
In a response to a question posed to the Smithsonian by the politically conservative news and commentary website CNSNews.com which asked why Thomas was not included in the museum, a spokeswoman for the consortium said that while Thomas was an example of an African-American with a "compelling personal stories," the museum "cannot tell every story in our inaugural exhibitions."

Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne wrote that the museum is the "most impressive and ambitious public building to go up in Washington in a generation" and that despite "some flaws and unfortunate signs of cost-cutting, the design succeeds almost precisely to the degree that it is enigmatic and even fickle, spanning huge gulfs in the national character without being naive enough to try to close them.
The building embraces memory and aspiration, protest and reconciliation, pride and shame."

In The Plain Dealer, Susan Glaser wrote that the museum "is really two museums in one: Its historical exhibits encompasses about 60 percent of the gallery space, while cultural exhibits take up the other 40 percent."
She wrote that the museum is "filled with difficult truths", such as a "statue of Thomas Jefferson, author of the words 'All Men Are Created Equal,' who is depicted in front of a brick wall – and on every brick, the name of one of his 609 slaves, including at least six who were his own children."
But she wrote that "[i]t was the coffin of Emmett Till that finally got to me."
She describes 14-year-old Till, who was lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman: "Though his body was severely disfigured, his mother insisted on an open casket at his funeral, hoping to show the world the effects of racial injustice.
It helped ignite the civil rights movement."

B
In a review for The New York Times, art critic Holland Cotter wrote, "The extremely complex narrative, with uplift and tragedy seemingly on a fixed collision course, spreads over five floors of galleries", and that it "holds some of the oldest and most disturbing material." Cotter added that "It's great that the museum mixes everything together: It means you can't just select a comfortable version of history." He concluded, "[I] hope, actually — that the museum will never be finished, or consider itself so; that its take on African-American history, which is American history, stays fluid, critical and richly confused: real, in other words."
The Wall Street Journal's critic at large, Edward Rothstein, suggested that "even a full day's visit is insufficient for a careful survey. That alone is an imposing achievement". Rothstein wrote that the "museum is illuminating, disturbing, moving—and flawed". He wrote that we "see the evolution of African-American newspapers, businesses, churches and other institutions. Galleries devoted to music and sports make it plain how much African-American history and culture is simply American history and culture." He also wrote that there is a "reluctance, too, to cast doubt on one perspective or another, or to give a nuanced assessment of conflicts. The actual doctrines of Elijah Muhammad, a leader of the Nation of Islam and mentor to Malcolm X, are unmentioned. And, more troubling, the Black Panthers are characterized as if they were defensively armed social workers, a PC view of radicalism that recurs in other contexts.". Museum reviewer Diana Muir, while criticizing the Museum for repeatedly misleading visitors by failing to put facts in "comparative perspective" a deficiency that "misleads curators into making sweeping claims like the assertion in the introductory room that before 1400 "slavery was a temporary status," nevertheless concluded that "Taken as a whole, however, the NMAAHC shows that it is possible to do an identity museum well, to build a museum on a foundation of rigorous scholarship that can inform, excite, and even inspire."
The lack of material on Justice Clarence Thomas drew criticism and prompted the introduction of a resolution by six GOP senators which argued that Thomas should have a "prominent place" in the museum. In a response to a question posed to the Smithsonian by the politically conservative news and commentary website CNSNews.com which asked why Thomas was not included in the museum, a spokeswoman for the consortium said that while Thomas was an example of an African-American with a "compelling personal stories," the museum "cannot tell every story in our inaugural exhibitions."
Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne wrote that the museum is the "most impressive and ambitious public building to go up in Washington in a generation" and that despite "some flaws and unfortunate signs of cost-cutting, the design succeeds almost precisely to the degree that it is enigmatic and even fickle, spanning huge gulfs in the national character without being naive enough to try to close them. The building embraces memory and aspiration, protest and reconciliation, pride and shame."
In The Plain Dealer, Susan Glaser wrote that the museum "is really two museums in one: Its historical exhibits encompasses about 60 percent of the gallery space, while cultural exhibits take up the other 40 percent." She wrote that the museum is "filled with difficult truths", such as a "statue of Thomas Jefferson, author of the words 'All Men Are Created Equal,' who is depicted in front of a brick wall – and on every brick, the name of one of his 609 slaves, including at least six who were his own children." But she wrote that "[i]t was the coffin of Emmett Till that finally got to me." She describes 14-year-old Till, who was lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman: "Though his body was severely disfigured, his mother insisted on an open casket at his funeral, hoping to show the world the effects of racial injustice. It helped ignite the civil rights movement."
B
National Museum of African American History and Culture