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 A noose was found Wednesday at an exhibition on segregation inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, the Smithsonian Institution announced. 
  
 Museum visitors found the noose on the floor in front of a display titled, “Democracy Abroad. Injustice at Home,” and it was reported to the United States Park Police. The permanent exhibition, “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: Era of Segregation 1876-1968,” was closed but reopened about three hours after the discovery, the Smithsonian said. 
  
 The noose found on Wednesday afternoon was the second one to have been discovered in the past week at the Smithsonian museum complex on the National Mall. On Saturday, the Park Police removed a noose from a tree outside the Hirshhorn Museum, which exhibits contemporary art. 
  
 The Smithsonian and the Park Police are working together on both cases. No arrests had been made as of Wednesday night. 
  
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 “The Smithsonian family stands together in condemning this act of hatred and intolerance, especially repugnant in a museum that affirms and celebrates the American values of inclusion and diversity,” David J. Skorton, the secretary of the Smithsonian, wrote in an email to his staff. 
  
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 Mr. Skorton called the episode “deeply disturbing” and added, “Cowardly acts like these will not, for one moment, prevent us from the vital work we do.” ||||| News4's Kristin Wright talked to visitors at the National Museum of African American History and Culture during a unity ceremony 
  
 A noose was found inside the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, and U.S. Park Police are investigating. 
  
 Tourists found the noose Wednesday afternoon on the floor in front of a display about the KKK inside an exhibit on segregation, the Smithsonian Institution said in a news release. 
  
 "The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity -- a symbol of extreme violence for African Americans. Today's incident is a painful reminder of the challenges that African Americans continue to face," museum director Lonnie Bunch wrote in an email to staff. 
  
  
  
 Park police removed the noose and closed the museum for about an hour while police investigated. 
  
 "We were leaving the segregation gallery. We were walking through and then the guard came up and said, 'Everybody out! Everybody out!' So, they rushed us through, and at the time we were not aware of what was going on. We just knew we had to leave that area immediately," tourist Tracy Grant told News4. 
  
  
  
  
  
 "It's very hard. It's very very very upsetting," 
  
 "We were very emotional to begin with. This is history. This should not be happening in this day and age." 
  
 "It's very hard. It's very, very, very upsetting," she said. "We were very emotional to begin with. This is history. This should not be happening in this day and age." 
  
 An impromptu gathering of supporters outside the museum Thursday drew Bunch out to speak to them. 
  
 "Thank you for helping us go through what is really one of the most difficult times we've had as a professional, because we know this is not just a symbol,” he told them. “This is about the noose symbolizes loss, pain. It symbolizes a country that we don't believe in, but your rallying around us helps us remember what a great place we can be when we come together." 
  
 Visitors left red roses at the reflecting pool. 
  
 "And what I love is look at the faces,” Bunch told News4. “It's America at its best. Unbelievably diverse. It's a group of people that help us remember what America can be." 
  
 The Rev. G. Vincent Lewis, visiting the museum from Atlanta, said the discovery of the noose is a reminder that hate still exists. 
  
 "Still, we’ve got to deal with folk trying to suggest that we're not equal to other American citizens because of our color,” he said. “That's tragic." 
  
 But he's not sitting down. 
  
 "We really need to, in protest of this, rise above it and let the people know who would try to do this that we're not going back there," he said. 
  
 Staff from the National Museum of the American Indian joined the supporters. 
  
 "That sort of thing is not welcome here, and we are not afraid of you," National Museum of the American Indian Director Kevin Gover said. 
  
 The Museum of African American History & Culture said it has cameras in the area but didn't comment on what images it captured. 
  
 The noose was found less than a week after another noose was found on the National Mall, hanging from a tree outside the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. 
  
 Here's when nooses have recently been found in the D.C. area: 
  
 -- April 27: Noose found inside University of Maryland fraternity house 
  
 -- May 1: Nooses and bananas found hanging on American University campus 
  
 -- May 11: Noose found hanging outside Crofton Middle School, Crofton, Maryland 
  
 -- May 26: Noose found hanging outside the Hirshhorn Museum 
  
 Noose in African American Museum Is One of Several in DC Area 
  
 Several nooses have recently been found in the D.C. area. News4's Eun Yang has a rundown on the symbols of racist hate. (Published Thursday, June 1, 2017) 
  
 Kinshasha Holman-Conwill, the African American museum's deputy director, said the mission of the museum continues. 
  
 "We don't let acts of cowardice like this deter us. We are, if anything, even more vigilant and even more determined to tell this important story," she said. 
  
 In its release, the Smithsonian Institution cited several similar incidents that have recently occurred across the country. 
  
 "Other nooses have been found on the Duke University campus, the Port of Oakland in California, a fraternity house at the University of Maryland, a middle school in Maryland, and at a high school in Lakewood, California," it said. "All of them seem to be part of a larger wave of violence, intimidation and hate crimes." 
  
 The Symbolism of the Noose 
  
 The noose was used as a symbol of racist intimidation on the campuses of American University and University of Maryland. Here's a brief look at the history of the symbol. (Published Saturday, May 27, 2017) 
  
 On Thursday morning, the museum was operating as usual. ||||| A noose was found Wednesday in a public gallery at the National Museum of African American History and Culture museum, the second such incident on Smithsonian grounds in less than a week, officials said. 
  
 David J. Skorton, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said in an email announcement that he had to share “deeply disturbing news” that the rope was found in an public exhibition space Wednesday afternoon. It was in the Segregation Gallery on the second floor of the history galleries. 
  
 “The Smithsonian family stands together in condemning this act of hatred and intolerance, especially repugnant in a museum that affirms and celebrates the American values of inclusion and diversity,” Skorton wrote. 
  
 Skorton added that the incident is being investigated by U.S. Park Police. Spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Rose said that police are investigating but she provided no further details. 
  
 Police officials said a noose was found hanging from a tree Saturday on the grounds of the Hirshhorn Museum. 
  
 [Noose found hanging in tree at Hirshhorn Museum] 
  
 “The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity — a symbol of extreme violence for African Americans. Today’s incident was a painful reminder of the challenges that African Americans continue to face,’’ Lonnie Bunch III, the museum’s founding director, said in a statement. 
  
 “This was a horrible act, but a stark reminder of why our work is so important,” Bunch said. 
  
 Authorities closed a portion of the galleries for nearly three hours as police and the Smithsonian Office of Protection Services investigated, Bunch said in an email to staff. |||||
What is a summary?
– In what museum director Lonnie Bunch III calls "a painful reminder of the challenges that African-Americans continue to face," a noose was found in a gallery at the National Museum of African American History and Culture Wednesday. Visitors to the Washington, DC, museum found the noose in front of a display called "Democracy Abroad. Injustice at Home" in the exhibition on segregation, the New York Times reports. Officials say the incident is being investigated by the US Park Police, but no arrests have been made yet. The exhibit reopened to the public around three hours after the noose was found. "This is history. This should not be happening in this day and age," a museum visitor tells News4. The museum is part of the Smithsonian complex on the National Mall, where another noose was found hanging from a tree at the Hirshhorn art museum on Saturday, the Washington Post reports. "The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity—a symbol of extreme violence for African-Americans," Bunch said in a statement, per the Smithsonian, adding: "We will continue to help breach the chasm of race that has divided this nation since its inception." (George W. Bush joined the Obamas at the museum's official opening last fall.)