Did you know. Kobe Bryant also supported culture. He had donated $1 million to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Kobe Bryant, the legendary Los Angeles Lakers basketball player who tragically passed away last Jan. 26 in Calabasas, Calif. in an accident with his helicopter in which his daughter Gianna and seven other people also lost their lives, was not only a basketball star and a champion of solidarity (many were his charitable initiatives: his foundation, the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, regularly bestowed donations on behalf of the homeless, children and youth in troubled areas of Los Angeles, victims of natural disasters, and to provide education and an introduction to sports for young people in need). Bryant, in fact, was also a staunch supporter of culture.

In this regard, his donation of a million dollars to the Smithsonian Institution in Los Angeles is particularly noteworthy: Kobe Bryant’s handout was secured in anticipation of the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), construction of which began in 2003 and opened in 2016. It is the newest of the Smithsonian’s museums: it is an institute of more than 40,000 objects (about 3,500 of which are exhibits) and tells the public about the history and culture of African Americans (nearly two million visitors in 2018).

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch recalled that Kobe Bryant used to attend the openings of events held at the museum and that he did not shy away when someone at the museum asked to have their picture taken with him. At the time of the opening in 2016 (the donation was a few months earlier), Bryant had invited the public to visit the NMAAHC: “go see this museum,” he had said, “the stories that are inside this building are the most important testament to this country. And I am honored to be a part of it.”

That Bryant believed in the value of culture and education is nothing new. Suffice it to recall that, just before the 2018 Christmas holidays, he visited an Orange County school and brought with him a cart full of books to donate to the institution. “Reading is extremely important,” he had said at the time, “and I wanted to make sure I arrived here full of Christmas spirit, bringing gifts. So here I am with 250 books that I am donating to you at the school.” Several times he had also spoken on the topic of education as a key to combating racism, the last time just days before he died in the incident. Bryant had lived part of his adolescence in Italy and experienced his first episode of racism in our country, he told CNN Jan. 16. “Although there is still much to be done,” he had said, “I think education is always the most important thing.”

The Smithsonian remembered Kobe Bryant in recent hours, with a lengthy note signed by Spencer Crew, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. After expressing the institute’s condolences to his wife Vanessa and the couple’s other daughters (Natalia, Bianca and Capri), Crew recalled Bryant’s work on behalf of the museum: "For us at the NMAAHC, Kobe holds a very special place in our hearts. In the most critical stages of building the museum, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant became founding donors, and gave us the push we needed to move forward. Kobe also had the opportunity to visit the museum before it opened. He was so excited about the experience that he later decided to give us his 2008 NBA Finals uniform, the year he was named MVP [Most Valuable Player, best player in the league, ed.] Because of the many gifts he made to the museum and for the example he set for athletes and family fathers, we will be forever grateful to Kobe Bryant, and we will miss him deeply."

To remember Kobe Bryant, the Smithsonian then decided to exhibit to the public, in the halls of the National Portrait Gallery, the photographic portrait of the player taken by Rick Chapman in 2007, when the player was twenty-nine years old. The work was already part of the museum’s collection.

Pictured: the portrait of Kobe Bryant executed by Rick Chapman.

Did you know. Kobe Bryant also supported culture. He had donated $1 million to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

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