Ava DuVernay was commissioned by the museum to create a film which debuted at the museum 's opening on September 24 , 2016 . This film , '' August 28 : A Day in the Life of a People '' ( 2016 ) , tells of six significant events in African-American history that happened on the same date , August 28 . The 22-minute film stars Lupita Nyong ' o , Don Cheadle , Regina King , David Oyelowo , Angela Bassett , Michael Ealy , Gugu Mbatha-Raw , André Holland and Glynn Turman . Events depicted include William IV 's royal assent to the UK Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 , the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi , the release of Motown 's first number-one song , “ Please Mr. Postman ” by The Marvellettes , Martin Luther King , Jr. 's 1963 " I Have a Dream " speech , the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the night then-senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
National Museum of African American History and Culture