Downtown Charleston museum to host pre-opening event

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Ahead of its anticipated January opening date, the International African American Museum in downtown Charleston is hosting a pre-opening worship service in November.

The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church, will join museum officials and the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina for a pre-opening worship service, called “The Journey: A Call to Action for Historical, Spiritual and Social Justice.”

The service is open to the public and begins at 6 p.m. Nov. 16 at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, 7396 Rivers Ave., North Charleston.

A private “Blessing of the Water and Sacred Ground” will be held prior to the worship service at the museum site “overlooking the Atlantic passages through which thousands of enslaved Africans entered the Harbor,” a news release from the museum stated.

During the evening worship service, Curry “will offer a message of hope and words of inspiration and empowerment to people of all backgrounds and belief systems in the Lowcountry community and beyond,” the release stated.

To register for the worship service, click here.

The International African American Museum, which expected to open Jan. 21, is located at the site of Gadsden’s Wharf in downtown Charleston, where many slaves disembarked from Africa. Its focus will be the cultural, social and economic impact of slavery in the Americas and the diverse journeys and achievements of slaves and their descendants.