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| - A museum dedicated to post-Civil War Charlotte.
This downtown museum takes you through the history of Charlotte, explaining why all the roads are so confusing, why Charlotte is such a financial city, and how the Civil Rights movement transformed Charlotte as a city.
Charlotte's history isn't all roses and BBQ. There were some dark days in Charlotte's past. The KKK, poverty and racism kept a large segment of the state down. But FDR came and visited Charlotte, and the city became a boom town, for cotton and culture. Later, banks moved in, and has turned this city into one of the largest financial cities in the country!
The exhibits are well done and interesting. My favorite part was how they leave out Post-It notes for visitors to comment on what they've just seen. Some of the comments were rather critical, on how the museum got certain things wrong, or were still showing some racist ignorance in their displays. For instance, they had a bit on how blacks couldn't vote just after the Civil War, and someone put a note up pointing out that women couldn't vote at that time either.
The gift shop was nice, but a bit on the random side. I guess there was some stuff having to do with Charlotte, but they didn't seem to have anything too cool, other than North Carolina wines.
Near the entrance is an information kiosk, where you can pick up all the latest brochures, magazines, literature- anything you need to know what's going on in and around Charlotte.
Parking was easy - the museum validated parking at the garage next door.
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