Washington — The National Museum of African American History and Culture isn't scheduled to open until 2015 but its first exhibition is already touring the country.

The "Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits," exhibition is a collection of images from the National Portrait Gallery that depicts the African American struggle for freedom and equality across 150 years of U.S. history. Those pictured include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with Coretta Scott King; Frederick Douglass; Muhammad Ali; Ray Charles; and Ella Fitzgerald.

Smithsonian Institution (ENLARGE)

This is the site (circled) chosen for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The five-acre site is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, about 800 feet from the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

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The portraits have been exhibited in New York City and are now in New Orleans and could come to Atlanta later, according to a museum spokeswoman.

With Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., leading the legislative charge, the National Museum of African American History and Culture was created by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2003.

The museum will be a member of the Smithsonian family and located at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 14th Street, one of the few remaining prime spots beside the National Mall. It will be adjacent to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and across from the Washington Monument.

"At this stage, we're amazed at the amount of national interest and support," said Lonnie G. Bunch, the director. "We're hoping for an opening in 2015."

Architects are currently doing pre-design planning for the interior of the museum while curators are going around the country on a project called "Save Our African American Treasures" where families are taught how to collect and preserve their own artifacts.

If historically significant items are discovered in these sessions, the owners are first urged to donate them to local museums, said Bunch. But some could end up in the National Museum of African American History.

The title of the museum's inaugural traveling exhibition comes from an 1843 speech by Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a clergyman and former slave. "Strike for your lives and liberties," he told a National Convention of Colored Citizens in Buffalo, N.Y. "Rather die free men than live to be slaves././././Let your motto be resistance!"

Cost estimates for the museum have ranged from $300 million to $500 million and will be split between the federal government and private donors.