The Smithsonian will build its new National Museum of African American History and Culture on a site on the National Mall, the institution's board of regents has announced.  Museum officials said that they will begin aggressively collecting art, culture objects, and artifacts by and about black Americans for the museum's projected opening in 2016.

Curators for the nascent museum are also reviewing holdings at other Smithsonian branches with an eye toward collaborations and will begin staging shows even before the building opens.  The museum, which has no architect or building plan yet, will rise at the corner of 15th Street and Constitution Avenue, next to the National Museum of American History. 

Supporters of the museum pushed for it to be located on the Mall, a two-mile stretch of green in the city center and the site of some of the most emblematic events in African American history, including the 1963 civil rights march.