By Lauren Northington

When the National Museum of African American History and Culture opens this weekend with fanfare, a dedication ceremony Saturday with President Obama and other dignitaries and an anticipated crowd of thousands, a 130-year-old bell shipped to the museum from Williamsburg will ring — and acknowledge history.

The bell is among several historic items — and people — from the Greater Richmond area linked to the opening celebration of the $300 million museum that is part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Designed by architect David Adjaye of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup, the new 400,000- square-foot building is at Constitution Avenue and 14th Street NW on the Washington Mall, near the Washington Monument.

The building, with its contemporary design, will be filled with more than 33,000 cultural and historical artifacts devoted “exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, history and culture” spanning more than 400 years, according to the Smithsonian website.

The bell from Williamsburg’s historic First Baptist Church was removed from the church last week and sent to Washington. The church was formed in 1776 by a group of enslaved and free black people, and is believed to be among the first black Baptist churches in the nation organized for and by African-Americans.

The bell was purchased in 1886, but was silent since the 1950s until recently. It was restored in partnership with Colonial Williamsburg, and rang for the first time in decades in February when the church launched the “Let Freedom Ring Challenge.” More than 4,000 people from across the nation came to historic church on Scotland Street to ring the bell for racial healing, while thousands of others across the world rang it virtually online.

Several of the museum’s artifacts have roots in Richmond, including belongings of Dr. Danielle Spencer-David, who is best known for her portrayal of “Dee,” the little sister in the popular 1970s sitcom, “What’s Happening!!”

Now a Richmond resident and veterinarian, Dr. Spencer-David will be celebrated at the museum for her role on the show that aired for three seasons on ABC.

“I can hardly believe it’s happening,” Dr. Spencer-David told the Richmond Free Press. “To be a part of a show that was speaking to the African-American community… shows like ‘What’s Happening!!’ and ‘Good Times’ was an honor in itself, but now more than 40 years later to be honored is unbelievable.”

Excerpts from the script of “What’s Happening!!” along with materials from the set, the cast and photos will be featured in the performing arts and entertainment section of the museum.

Various works from late photographer and Richmond native Louis Draper will be featured in the culture section of the museum.

Mr. Draper, who lived in Richmond for more than 20 years, was known as a founding member of the 1960s African-American photography collective “Kamoinge,” meaning “a group of people acting together” in the Bantu language Kikuyu.

Several pieces from Mr. Draper’s 40,000-plus negatives and proof sheets will be on display.

Richmond resident Pamela H. Lawton had an opportunity to see both Mr. Draper’s photos and her own family heirlooms during a preview Sept. 17 of the museum and is still celebrating. She was invited after donating personal items of her great-great-grandfather, Richard T. Jones, a longtime aide and clerk to Civil War Gen. Philip Sheridan.

Mr. Jones’ diary of their 1882 mission to save public lands in the West from private development was donated to the Smithsonian. That land is now Yellowstone National Park.

“Seeing the items on display, and walking through the museum where the entire history of my people is laid out for all to see and learn from, was emotionally mind-blowing, but in a positive way,” said Dr. Lawton, an associate professor of art education at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In addition to the diary, the family donated Mr. Jones’ Army-issued, pearl-handled revolver and other family items.

Benjamin Ross, church historian of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Jackson Ward, also attended the preview to see the church’s donation — two deacon’s chairs made in 1900 in Vienna by Austrian furniture makes Jacob and Josef Kohn.

“This is, of course, a big moment at the church to be a part of the new museum,” he said.

Mr. Ross has served as church historian for 32 years. The church donated the chairs, which it had for 116 years, in August 2013.

Sixth Mount Zion was founded in 1867 by the renowned Rev. John Jasper. Mr. Ross said the church has had ties with the Smithsonian since 1988, when the church was featured in a Smithsonian-published book on the rise of black churches.

Sixth Mount Zion’s sanctuary, built in 1897, will be shown at the museum in 1978 photos submitted by VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. VCU also submitted an early 1900s postcard of the iconic Jackson Ward church and a digitized photograph of Robert R. Morton School for African Americans.

The Morton School was built in 1953 in Prince Edward County following a student-led strike in protest of segregated and inferior schools. After the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Prince Edward County and other Virginia localities closed their public schools rather than integrate. The tactic, known as “Massive Resistance,” was championed by Virginia’s segregationist leaders, including U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr.

In Prince Edward County, the schools were closed from 1959 until 1964, and while provisions were made for white students to receive government-subsidized educations at private schools, no provisions were made for African-American children.

“The photographs and postcard were created during a near century-long struggle for African-Americans to improve their lives in the United States,” said Dr. Wesley Chenault, head of special collections and archives at VCU’s James Branch Cabell Library.

Dr. Rex M. Ellis of Williamsburg, a VCU graduate who earned his master’s of divinity from Virginia Union University and a doctorate from the College of William & Mary, has served as associate director for curatorial affairs at the new museum since 2008. He previously was vice president of the historic area for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

The museum’s three-day opening festival, called “Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration,” will begin Friday, Sept. 23, and continue through Sunday, Sept. 25.

The festival, which is free and open to the public, will feature performances from Public Enemy, The Roots and dozens of other artists in unique themes for each day. Friday’s theme is “Homecoming,” Saturday’s is “Celebration” and Sunday’s is “Call and Response.”

Distinguished guests will include First Lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, among others.

For more information about the museum, including to reserve passes, go to http://nmaahc.si.edu.