WBRZ - Baton Rouge

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and former first lady Laura Bush will help break ground for a new national museum telling the history of black art, life and culture as part of the Smithsonian Institution.

After today's event, construction can begin for the National Museum of African American History and Culture as a space for history that hasn't always been presented on the National Mall. Some exhibits include a Jim Crow-era segregated railroad car, military and sports history and Louis Armstrong's trumpet.

Museum Director Lonnie Bunch says it will include stories that will make visitors smile and make them cry.

The museum is scheduled to open in 2015 near the Washington Monument. Congress pledged to provide half the $500 million construction cost with private funds covering the remainder.