A luminary among the nation's museums devoted to African-American history was named the museum director at the future Obama Presidential Center, the foundation planning the center announced Wednesday.
Louise Bernard, outgoing director of exhibitions at the New York Public Library, will be charged with presenting the narrative of the Obama presidency and sustaining the legacy of the first African-American president.
Bernard previously was a member of the design team that helped develop the highly acclaimed National Museum of African American History and Culture, a Smithsonian Institution facility that opened to great fanfare in the National Mall in September.
She also serves as a key adviser for the International Museum of African American History in Charleston, S.C., which is scheduled to break ground at the end of this year.
"She's really a superstar," said Michael Boulware Moore, president and chief executive officer of the International African American Museum. "I'm sure President Obama and the first lady will have all kinds of thoughts about what they think should be in the museum. She will digest that and cull through it and there will be some back-and-forth."
"Her magic is coming up with dynamic ways of engaging people in interesting kinds of ways."
Scheduled to open in 2021, the Obama Presidential Center will rise in Jackson Park on the South Side. In a break from tradition, former President Barack Obama's official papers and artifacts will not be housed there but will be digitized and stored elsewhere by the National Archives and Records Administration and made available through loans.
The cost of the center is expected to be at least $500 million.
This month, Obama and his wife while in Chicago offered the first look at the design of the center, a campus of three buildings highlighted by an eye-catching museum, whose height and splaying walls would make a bold architectural statement.
Calling it a "transformational project for this community," the former president said he and his wife envisioned a vibrant setting that would be akin to Millennium Park, a destination for those drawn to the presidential center and the park itself.
"It's not just a building. It's not just a park. Hopefully it's a hub where all of us can see a brighter future for the South Side," the former president said.
Moore said Bernard, who has a Ph.D. in African American Studies and American Studies from Yale University, brings a firm grasp of the international African-American journey and an ability to integrate exhibits, architecture and landscape and the complexities of race to make a powerful impression that fulfills the Obamas' lofty goals. Under her direction, it likely will be impossible for visitors to tour the museum without realizing the historic significance of the first African-American in the White House, Moore said.
"She will be able to parse, distill a lot of the broad social nuances of his eight years and will be able to come up with some key deliverables in the sense of the museum experience that will be very valuable," Moore said.
Those with knowledge of the process said one of the first items on Bernard's agenda will be a series of listening sessions with a broad range of people and groups, including staff at the DuSable Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, as well as community organizations, artists, and storytellers on the South Side.
Though Bernard is not from Chicago — she's originally from the United Kingdom — Moore said she excels at understanding the importance of place and incorporating that into the mission of a museum.
In Charleston, the museum will be situated on Gadsden's Wharf, where more than 100,000 enslaved Africans, including a paternal ancestor of Michelle Obama, stepped foot on American soil for the first time.
"(Bernard) quickly understood the power of the site and the history of colonial Charleston and the Low Country," Moore said. "She will easily understand the history of the South Side of Chicago and also infuse that into the museum in a way that grounds the overall experience."
The Obama Foundation's chief executive, David Simas, expressed confidence in Bernard's ability to make the Obama center much more than a traditional presidential museum.
"One of the key aspects of the Obama Presidential Center is a museum that does not just tell the story of the Obama Administration, but inspires individuals and communities to take on our biggest challenges," Simas said in a statement.
Bernard, also in a statement, said she hoped to carry out her new role in a way that inspires South Side neighbors, as well as Americans and people around the world.
"I look forward in bringing President and Mrs. Obama's remarkable story to the broadest possible audience," she said, "and to highlighting the crucial role of civic engagement in a way that is meaningful to local South Side residents."
Bernard's appointment follows a series of hires earlier this month including Lynn Taliento, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant, as chief program officer and Glenn Brown, a former executive at YouTube, Google and Twitter, as chief digital officer.
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