National

• Association for African American Museums - A database constructed by the Association of African American Museums includes over 300 institutions, sites, museums, libraries, galleries, archives, historical societies, and cultural centers that focus on African American history and culture. 
• National Park Service  -  The National Park Service operates several historic sites, trails, and repositories that focus on African American history nationwide.  The sites and sources listed here explore issues of slavery, reconstruction, the Jim Crow South, Civil Rights, and Culture. 

 

Alabama

• National Memorial for Peace and Justice “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened to the public on April 26, 2018, is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.” 

• The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration -  “The Legacy Museum:  From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration is situated on a site in Montgomery where enslaved people were once warehoused.” 

• National Voting Rights Museum and Institute – “Located in the Historic District of Selma, Alabama at the foot of the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge, the scene of “Bloody Sunday,” the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute is the cornerstone of the contemporary struggle for voting rights and human dignity.” 

• Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site – “Before the first African American military pilots became known as the "Red Tails" they wore striped tails as they began their flight training in the Army's PT-17 Stearman bi-plane.  Their flying adventure started at Moton Field, in Tuskegee, Alabama, where the Army Air Corps began a military "experiment" to see if Negroes could be trained to fly combat aircraft.” 

 

Alaska

• Archives and Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library – Blacks in Alaska History Project - “Project records and research files related to a project documenting African Americans in Alaskan history.” 

 

Arkansas

• Mosaic Templars Cultural Center: A Museum of African American History – “The Mission of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is to preserve, interpret and celebrate African American history and culture in Arkansas. The museum's exhibits highlight fraternal organizations, African American entrepreneurs as well as integration.” 

• Ozark Foothills African- American History Museum – “The mission of the Ozark Foothills African-American History Museum is to recover, research, collect, preserve, interpret, teach, and promote knowledge and appreciation of the African people, with emphasis on African-Americans.” 

 

California 

• California African American Museum – “Founded in 1977, the California African American Museum has a long and rich history. The first African American museum of art, history, and culture fully supported by a state, CAAM was the direct result of a sustained, multiyear campaign of activism undertaken by visionary founders and community members” It’s mission is “to research, collect, preserve, and interpret for public enrichment the history, art, and culture of African Americans with an emphasis on California and the western United States.” 

• African American Museum and Library at Oakland – “The African American Museum and Library at Oakland is dedicated to the discovery, preservation, interpretation and sharing of historical and cultural experiences of African Americans in California and the West for present and future generations.” 

 

Colorado 

• Black American West Museum & Heritage Center – “Victorian home filled with artifacts telling the story of African-Americans in the Wild West.” 

• Stiles African American Center – “The Stiles African American Heritage Center, an outgrowth of African American History on Wheels founded in 1992, is located in Five Points, the heart of Denver’s historic African American Community.” It’s goal is “To help all people become aware of the significant contributions African Americans have made toward the development and progress of America.” 

• Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library – A part of the Denver Public Library System, the Blair-Caldwell African American Research library is a neighborhood branch, research library, and museum focused on collecting and preserving the history of the African American community in Denver.  

 

Connecticut 

• Museum of Black WWII History – Temporarily closed. “This museum is the only one of its kind in the U.S. The museum was created not to glorify war but to document it -- In particular to honor the long-ignored role of African-Americans in the largest worldwide conflict of human history.” 

• Prudence Crandall Museum, Canterbury – “Step into the home and academy of Connecticut's state heroine, Prudence Crandall, a pioneer in education for African-American women. Learn about Sarah Harris, the brave 20-year-old African-American woman who was unafraid to ask the difficult question. Crandall’s academy was the first in New England for “young ladies and little misses of color.” Discover the moral courage Crandall, Harris and the other students showed in the face of discrimination, and explore the issues of racism, sexism and injustice.” 

 

Delaware 

• Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage at the Delaware Historical Society – “The purpose of the Mitchell Center for African American Heritage is to collect, preserve, research and present for public enrichment the history and heritage of Delaware’s African Americans and it is headquartered on the Delaware Historical Society’s Wilmington campus in the Delaware History Museum.” 

 

DC 

• National Museum of African American History and Culture NMAAHC - The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture 

• Civil Rights History Project (CRHP): Joint initiative with the Library of Congress. “Over the course of five years, the personal histories and testimonials of unsung activists of the 1950s and 1960s, were captured, and now, this unique collection of stories is available to all.” 

• African American Civil War Memorial Museum – “he mission of the African American Civil War Museum is to correct a great wrong in history that largely ignored the enormous contributions of the 209,145 members of the United States Colored Troops. It tells the stories and preserves for posterity the historic roles these brave men of African, European, and Hispanic descent played in ending slavery and keeping America united under one flag.” 

• Smithsonian: Anacostia Community Museum – “The Anacostia Community museum explores social issues impacting diverse populations of the DC metropolitan area to promote mutual understanding and strengthen community bonds.” 

 

Florida 

• Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum – “The museum presents the historic voice of one segment of the St. Petersburg Florida community in the perspective of local, regional, and national history, culture and community. It is another demonstration of the commitment to revitalize the Midtown St. Petersburg area.​” 

• Wells’Built Museum of African American History & Culture – “The Wells’Built Hotel has been converted into a museum housing memorabilia of Orlando’s African-American community and displays on the Civil Rights movement along with some African art and artifacts.” 

• African American Museum of the Arts – The museum contains art by African American artists and over 150 African artifacts.  

• Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum – “The Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum is one of a few of its kind in the state of Florida. It houses a collection of photographs, memorabilia, and artifacts that are displayed to educate citizens and students about the history and race relations in small-town Florida over the course of the 20th century.” 

• Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum – “Housed within the first Carnegie Library built on a black land-grant college campus, the Meek-Eaton Black Archives has one of the most extensive collections of African American artifacts in the Southeast. One of 10 black archives in the country, it contains more than 500,000 archival records and 5,000 artifacts in its collection.”

 

Georgia 

• National Center for Civil and Human Rights –  “The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is a museum dedicated to the achievements of both the civil rights movement in the United States and the broader worldwide human rights movement.” 

• Tubman Museum – “The Tubman Museum is the largest museum in the nation dedicated to educating people about the Art, History and Culture of African Americans.” 

• Apex Museum – “The mission of the African-American Panoramic Experience (APEX) Museum is to accurately interpret and present history from an African-American perspective in order to help all American and International visitors better understand and appreciate the contributions of African-Americans to America as well as the world.” 

• Morgan County African American Museum – “The museum was founded in November 1993 as a non-profit organization. Our mission is to research, collect, educate, and preserve the history and the art of the African-American culture.” 

• Jack Hadley Black History Museum – “Thomasville’s First Black History Museum is established to educate individuals about the history and culture of African Americans locally and nationally. One African-American historian, James “Jack” Hadley has preserved over 4,669 pieces of African American artifacts with emphasis on Thomasville’s First Black Achievers, states and national achievers that commemorate their lives and accomplishments.” 

 

Hawaii 

• African American Diversity Center/Obama Hawaiian Africana Museum – “To preserve the footprints of Hawaiian Africana settlers, an amalgamation contributions to Island history including World War II Pacific Theater. This history has been hidden in Hawaiian archives for over two hundred years.  Until 1997, no institution had focused or acknowledge the history about Africana people population in Hawai’i.” 

 

Idaho 

• Idaho Black History Museum – “Housed in the historic St. Paul Baptist Church building and located in Boise Julia Davis Park. The museum presents exhibits and provides educational and community outreach programs including lectures, films, workshops, literacy programs, and musical performances. The museum's purpose is to build bridges between cultures to explore issues that affect Americans of all cultures and ethnicity.”  

 

Illinois  

• African American Museum of Southern Illinois -  “The Museum is dedicated to identifying, preserving and portraying the outstanding achievements of African American Citizens. Permanent exhibits here include African art collections and slave artifacts. Rotating displays have included Underground Railroad message quilts and local artwork. The museum's changing exhibits seek to portray the outstanding achievements of African American citizens.” 

• National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum -  “The museum is named after men who made history – Asa Philip Randolph and Pullman Porters, the men who made up the membership of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) union. Randolph was the chief organizer and co-founder of the BSCP, the first African-American labor union in the country to win a collective bargaining agreement. Under Randolph’s leadership, the Pullman Porters fought a valiant battle for employment equality with the corporate giant, the Pullman Rail Car Company.”  

• Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum – Their Mission: “We will tell authentic stories about African-American life in Central Illinois, past and present, celebrating and sharing our history and culture and planning for our future. We will do this through scholarship, oral histories, exhibits, partnerships, our board, our supporters and our friends. We are and will be community builders.”  

• DuSable Museum of African American History – Their Mission: “To promote understanding and inspire appreciation of the achievements, contributions, and experiences of African Americans through exhibits, programs, and activities that illustrate African and African American history, culture and art.” 

• African American Hall of Fame Museum – Temporarily closed. “The African American Hall of Fame Museum was founded in 1987 by a small group of civic leaders with a mission to educate through preserving and promoting art and history that highlight African American achievements and individuals that have had an impact on the African American experience, in our community and beyond.”  

 

Indiana 

• Evansville African American Museum – “The mission of the Evansville African American Museum is to continually develop a resource and cultural center to collect, preserve, and educate the public on the history and traditions of African American families, organizations, and communities. Located in Evansville, Indiana as the last remaining building of Lincoln Gardens, the second Federal Housing Project created under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1938, our building serves as a permanent artifact in itself.”  

• African/African American Historical Society Museum – “The African / African American Historical Society & Museum of Allen County (AAAHSM, pronounced "Awesome") is a nonprofit organization formed to preserve African & African American histories and cultures through collections and programs that promote scholarly research and public use.”  

• Freetown Village – “Freetown Village is a living history museum with the mission to educate the public about African American lives, arts, and culture in Indiana through living history, exhibits, allied programs, and the collection and preservation of artifacts.” 

 

Iowa 

• African American Museum of Iowa – “The African American Museum of Iowa is a statewide museum dedicated to preserving, exhibiting, and teaching Iowa’s African American history. As Iowa’s leading educational resource on the topic, we educate more than 30,000 people each year through museum tours, traveling exhibits, research services, youth and adult education programs, and community and fundraising events.”  

 

Kansas 

• The Kansas African American Museum – “The Kansas African American Museum, formerly the venerable Calvary Baptist Church was once the cornerstone of Wichita’s vibrant black community. It was built in 1917 when the congregation’s leaders worked nights and weekends -separate and apart from their jobs to finish the church. That community featured restaurants, businesses, and homes. It hosted jazz artists, Negro League baseball stars, and was the home of America’s first African American Academy Award winner and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer among others.”  

 

Kentucky 

• Kentucky Center for African American Heritage – “The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage is the result of a collection of African American educators, artist, and historians who have collaborated to give the long-dormant history of African Americans in their region the voice and platform it deserves. This group evolved from the Louisville and Jefferson County African American Heritage Committee into its current mold, with a single unifying goal of promoting the Kentuckiana region’s black heritage.” 

 

Louisiana  

• Whitney Plantation – “Whitney Plantation is the only plantation museum in Louisiana with an exclusive focus on the lives of enslaved people. Visit Whitney’s memorials and restored buildings to enter the world of a Louisiana sugar plantation and to remember those who built and worked this property. On your walking tour, your guide shows you through slave cabins, a freedmen’s church, detached kitchen and outbuildings, a 1790s owner’s house and memorials built to honor the enslaved.”  

• New Orleans African American Museum – “The New Orleans African American Museum of Art, History and Culture (NOAAM) was founded in 1996 under the guidance and extensive support of the City of New Orleans Department of Housing and Neighborhood Development. NOAAM is located in the Tremé section of New Orleans, a neighborhood that was once home to the nation’s largest, most prosperous and politically progressive community of blacks by the mid-1850s.”  

• Baton Rouge African American Museum – “The museum showcases faces of African American contributors in various fields, rural artifacts, African Art, and minority inventions that impact our day-to-day activities” 

• Finding Our Roots African American Museum – “It aims to educate and to raise awareness of the significance of African American history to an understanding of the overall story of America as experienced in the Bayou Region parishes of Terrebonne, Lafouche and St. Mary…and beyond.”  

• River Road African American Museum – “The River Road African American Museum captures the spirit, soul, and significance of the people who thrived and enriched south Louisiana’s sugarcane country”  

• The McKenna Museum of African-American Art – “The George & Leah McKenna Museum of African American Art is an institution that collects, interprets and preserves the visual aesthetic of people of African descent in North America and beyond.” 

• Backstreet Cultural Museum – “The Backstreet Cultural Museum holds the world’s most comprehensive collection related to New Orleans’ African American community-based masking and processional traditions, including Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure clubs, Baby Dolls, and Skull and Bone gangs. The museum’s filmed records of over 500 events constitute the most cohesive archive documenting these cultural traditions.”

 

Maine 

• Abyssinian Meeting House – A historic African American church in Portland, Maine, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a part of the Underground Railroad.  

 

Maryland 

• Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture – “The Lewis Museum, the largest African American museum in Maryland, has been the authentic voice of Maryland African American history and culture since it opened in 2005. We tell our story through our permanent collection, special exhibitions, educational programs and public events.”  

• Prince George’s African American Museum & Cultural Center – “To celebrate and inspire the Community through the cultivation, preservation, and presentation of the cultural and artistic contributions of African American diasporas in Prince George’s County, Maryland and beyond.” 

• Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park – “An African American roadside community lived and worked on this historic site from emancipation well into the 20th century. Their culture and traditions heavily influenced those of surrounding communities, and their story is deeply woven into Montgomery County’s rich history. At the center of this site is Oakley Cabin, which was inhabited until 1976 and now serves as a living history museum.” 

• Banneker-Douglas Museum – “As the State of Maryland’s official museum of African American heritage, the Banneker-Douglass Museum serves to document, to interpret, and to promote African American history and culture (particularly in Maryland) through exhibitions, programs, and projects in order to improve the understanding and appreciation of America’s rich cultural diversity for all.” 

• The African Art Museum of Maryland – “In service to the public, the African Art Museum of Maryland, through an exploration of the art of Africa, is dedicated to the encouragement of broader understanding and awareness of the diverse cultures and artistic expressions of the people of the African continent. AAMM Collects, exhibits, and preserves for the public, treasure objects reflecting the fifty-five countries of Africa.” 

 

Massachusetts 

• Museum of African American History – “The Museum of African American History is New England’s largest museum dedicated to preserving, conserving and interpreting the contributions of African Americans. In Boston and Nantucket, the Museum has preserved two historic sites and two Black Heritage Trails® that tell the story of organized black communities from the Colonial Period through the 19th century.” 

• Boston African American National Historic Site – “Centered on the north slope of Beacon Hill, the African American community of 19th century Boston led the city and the nation in the fight against slavery and injustice. These remarkable men and women, together with their allies, were leaders in Abolition Movement, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and the early struggle for equal rights and education.”  

• Hutchins Center for African & African American Research – “The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research supports research on the history and culture of people of African descent the world over and provides a forum for collaboration and the ongoing exchange of ideas. It seeks to stimulate scholarly engagement in African and African American studies both at Harvard and beyond, and to increase public awareness and understanding of this vital field of study.”  

• National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture – “It is the first museum in New England and the second museum in the nation dedicated to preserving the history of black dolls.” 

• National Center of Afro-American Artists – “The Museum of the National Center of Afro American Artists (NCAAA) is dedicated to the celebration, exhibition, collection and criticism of black visual arts heritage worldwide. The Museum presents a wide range of historical and contemporary exhibitions in many media, including painting, sculpture, graphics, photography and decorative arts.”   

 

Michigan 

• African American Cultural Historical Museum of Washtenaw County – “The AACHM was established by 23 founding members in 1993 to document, collect, preserve and share African American History in Washtenaw County.” 

• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History – “Founded in 1965, the Wright Museum opens minds and changes lives through exploration and celebration of African American history and culture.”  

• Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives – “Our mission is to promote, preserve, display, collect and honor the lives, culture, history and accomplishments of African, African American, and connected peoples in the Greater Grand Rapids Michigan community.” 

• Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia – “The objects displayed in Michigan's newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque - a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe. That's the idea behind the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which says it has amassed the nation's largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond.”  

• Motown Museum – “Home to an extensive array of Motown artifacts, photographs and other memorabilia, the Museum’s mission…is to preserve the legacy of Motown Record Company and to educate and motivate people, especially youth.”  

 

Minnesota 

• Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery – “The Museum's purpose is to preserve, record and highlight the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans in Minnesota.” 

 

Mississippi 

• Mississippi Civil Rights Museum – “Explore the movement that changed the nation. Discover stories of Mississippians like Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and Vernon Dahmer—as well as those who traveled many miles to stand beside them, come what may, in the name of equal rights for all.”  

• African American Military History Museum – “Opened in 1942, in the segregated army of World War II, the USO Club served as a home away from home for African American soldiers stationed at Camp Shelby. This building is the only remaining USO constructed especially for African American soldiers in public use in the United States. It is now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and is a Mississippi Landmark.” 

• Burne-Belfry Museum and Multicultural Center – “Burns Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by freed African Americans who settled in the area known as “Freedmen Town” after the Civil War. The current church building was erected in 1910 and played a major role in the lives of many African Americans until 1974, when the Burns congregation moved to its new location.”     

 

Missouri 

• Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – “Established in a one-room office in 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America. In 2006, the United States Congress designated the NLBM as “America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.” 

• Griot Museum of Black History & Culture – “Only the second of its kind in the country, The Griot Museum of Black History opened as The Black World History Wax Museum in February 1997… To accomplish our work, The Griot uses life-size wax figures, other art, artifacts, and memorabilia to interpret the stories of African Americans with a regional connection who have contributed to our country’s development.” 

• George B. Vashon Museum – “Our mission is to build community relationships by teaching with a collection of artifacts, objects, and historical documents for exhibiting, interpreting and review of early St. Louis residents and people across the United States who were labeled, "Negro or Colored"”  

• Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center – “This living museum stands in tribute to the legacy of Kansas City’s early African-American pioneers and embodies the artistic, cultural and social history of the African-American experience.”  

 

Montana 

• Montana’s African American Heritage Resources – “Montana’s African American Heritage Resources Project is a gateway to exploring the Montana Historical Society's rich collections that document this understudied aspect of our state's history.” 

• Montana’s African American Heritage Places – “The Montana’s African American Heritage Places collection consists of histories, photographs, and architectural descriptions of properties across the state associated with African American history. Although African Americans never totaled more than one percent of the state’s population, they have been in the place that would become Montana since the earliest days of non-Indian presence and contributed greatly to Montana’s culture, economy, and religious life.”  

 

Nebraska 

• Great Plains Black History Museum – “For the past 40 years, The Great Plains Black History Museum has been a striving institution dedicated to publicizing and preserving the achievements of the region’s vibrant African American heritage.”  

• Midwest African Museum of Art, Culture & Resource Center – “To share the hidden beauty and rich history of Africa’s art and culture. To promote awareness, an understanding and appreciation of African immigrants within the Midwestern population.” 

 

Nevada 

• Walker African-American Museum – “The museum, a nonprofit tax-exempt corporation, strives to preserve and promote the history of people of African descent in Las Vegas, as well as across the US and abroad.”  

 

New Hampshire 

• Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire – “The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire promotes awareness and appreciation of African American history and life in order to build more inclusive communities today. Building on our success with the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail that started more than two decades ago, the new Black Heritage Trail will connect the stories of New Hampshire’s African heritage by documenting and marking visible many of the historic sites that testify to this rich history.”  

 

New Jersey 

• Afro-American Historical Society Museum – “The Afro-American Historical Society Museum was organized as a committee by Captain Thomas Taylor, President of the Jersey City Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People…Together they formed the Historical and Cultural Committee setting as its purpose the research, collection, preservation and exhibition of Afro-American history and culture” 

• African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey – “The only African American Heritage Museum in NJ documenting the African American experience of the 20th Century. More than 11,000 treasures showcased on a rotating basis, updated every 30 days.” 

 

New Mexico 

• African American Museum and Cultural Center of New Mexico –“ The mission of the African American Museum and Cultural Center of New Mexico is to increase awareness and understanding of the contributions of people of African Descent with emphasis on New Mexico and the Southwest. The museum will be a vehicle for the perpetual definition of our history.”  

 

New York 

• African American Museum of Nassau County – “A centerpiece of African American history and culture on Long Island since 1970, this museum, centrally located in Hempstead, offers a rotating series of exhibits showcasing local and national African-American artists.” 

• Weeksville Heritage Center – “Weeksville Heritage Center is a multidisciplinary museum dedicated to preserving the history of the 19th century African American community of Weeksville, Brooklyn - one of America’s many free black communities.”   

• The Africa Center – “A nonprofit, nonpartisan, multidisciplinary institution that provides a gateway for engagement with contemporary Africa.”  

• Sandy Ground Historical Society – “As the oldest continuously inhabited free Black settlement in the United States, Sandy Ground is a place of great historical significance… Today, Sandy Ground is home to 10 families that are descendants of original settlers. The museum educates and inspires the public with exhibitions, photographs, and art documenting the history of Sandy Ground and African Americans. A visit to Sandy Ground guarantees a lesson in our Nation’s history.” 

 

North Carolina 

• Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture – “The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African- American Arts + Culture (formerly the Afro- American Cultural Center) celebrates the contributions of Africans and African- Americans to American culture and serves as a community epicenter for music, dance, theater, visual art, film, arts education programs, literature and community outreach.”  

• African American Cultural Complex – “The African American Cultural Complex museum has a unique collection of artifacts, documents and displays of outstanding contributions made by African Americans that are housed in several buildings along a picturesque nature trail.” 

• International Civil Right Center & Museum – “The International Civil Rights Center & Museum is an archival center, collecting museum and teaching facility devoted to the international struggle for civil and human rights. The Museum celebrates the nonviolent protests of the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins that served as a catalyst in the civil rights movement.” 

• The Rosetta C. Baldwin African-American Museum – “This historical museum was created in 2000 to honor the legacy of Miss Rosetta C. Baldwin, her family, and the many African Americans who have contributed to the development of the High Point community.” 

 

Ohio

• The Cleveland African American Museum -  “The African American Museum of Cleveland, founded in 1953 by Icabod Flewellen is the first independent African American museum in the Americas. Its mission is to store, share, and educate the public on contributions made to the world by people of African descent.”  

• National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center – “Enjoy regularly changing exhibits and special programs sharing African American history, art and culture at this museum in Wilberforce, Ohio, home of two historically black universities: Wilberforce and Central State.” 

• John Parker House – “The John P. Parker Historical Society, Inc was founded in 1996 to recognize, commemorate and preserve the extraordinary legacy of John P. Parker and his remarkable family. With grants from the Ohio Arts Council, Ohio Humanities Council, National Park Service, National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Trust for Historic Preservation the house was stabilized, public programs were planned and presented, an archaeological investigation of the property was conducted and a well-researched and documented interpretative educational program was conceptualized.” 

• John Mercer Langston Historic House – “The historical significance of the Langston House is intricately tied to the freedom struggles and fight of African Americans not only in Oberlin, Ohio but also in the United States as a whole. Prominent abolitionists visited with John Mercer Langston in this house. It is in this house that John Mercer Langston met with John Brown, Jr. to discuss a request for assistance in the Harper’s Ferry incident. It is here also that Oberlin blacks came to celebrate the news of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.” 

• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center – “Our mission is to reveal stories of freedom’s heroes, from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary times, challenging and inspiring everyone to take courageous steps of freedom today.” 

 

Oklahoma 

• Oklahoma Black Museum & Performing Arts Center – “The Oklahoma Black Museum and Performing Arts Center (OBMAPAC) collects, exhibits, stimulates appreciation for and advances knowledge of the arts, primarily by and about African Americans. This is accomplished through programs designed to preserve African American culture, nurture talent and inspire excellence within the community at-large.” 

 

Oregon 

• Oregon NW Black Pioneers – “The Oregon Black Pioneers is an all volunteer nonprofit organization based in Salem, Oregon. It was founded in 1993 and incorporated in 1994 to do research and educate Oregonians about African-Americans’ contributions to Oregon’s history.” 

 

Pennsylvania

• African American Museum in Philadelphia – “Founded in 1976 in celebration of the nation's Bicentennial, the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) is the first institution funded and built by a major municipality to preserve, interpret and exhibit the heritage of African Americans. Throughout its evolution, the museum has objectively interpreted and presented the achievements and aspirations of African Americans from pre-colonial times to the current day.”   

• August Wilson African American Cultural Center – “The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a home for the arts, storytelling, learning and exchange around the African American experience and the rich culture of the African diaspora. We are guided by the enduring truths and essential values evident in the work of August Wilson.”  

• The Colored Girls Museum – “The Colored Girls Museum is a memoir museum, which honors the stories, experiences, and history of ordinary Colored Girls. This museum initiates the object—submitted by the colored girl herself, as representative of an aspect of her story and personal history, which she finds meaningful; her object embodies her experience and expression of being a Colored Girl.” 

 

Rhode Island 

• Stages of Freedom – Their Mission: “1) To provide youth of color access to swimming programs in order to reduce the number of drownings in the minority community. 2) To build community by creating and providing programming about Black Rhode Island life and culture to a wide audience. 3)  To educate and empower inner-city youth by providing cultural opportunities and access to museums and live performance”  

• Rhode Island’s Black Heritage Tour – “People of African descent have been part of Rhode Island’s population and culture since the seventeenth century. For a century, they were carried to Rhode Island’s shores aboard slaving vessels, and they helped build the fledgling colony. When the slave trade ended, Rhode Island’s black residents fought for equal access to education, housing, and employment. By the twentieth century, African Americans in Rhode Island emerged as significant cultural, political, and economic players, as reflected in their businesses, institutions, and activism.”  

 

South Carolina 

• International African American Museum – “IAAM aims to re-center South Carolina’s place in global history, illuminating its pivotal role in the development of the international slave trade and the Civil War.”  

• Clemson Area African American Museum – Their Mission “To collect and showcase the historical achievements and culture of African Americans  by serving as a resource center for the Greater Clemson Area to engage the local and upstate communities in intellectual discourse about the past.”  

• Old Slave Mart Museum – “Thomas Ryan owned Ryan’s Mart which later became the Old Slave Mart.  It is located between Chalmers and Queen Streets.  The Old Slave Mart was built in 1859 and is considered the last surviving slave auction gallery in South Carolina…In 1975, the Old Slave Mart was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its role in Charleston’s African-American history. Today, the building houses the Old Slave Mart Museum.”  

 

South Dakota 

• South Dakota African American History Museum – “The African American History Museum at the Washington Pavilion recognizes the struggles, contributions and great leadership of the African American community in South Dakota.”  

 

Tennessee 

• National Civil Rights Museum – “The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel which was the site of the assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.” 

• Stax Museum of American Soul Music – Housed in the former location of Stax Records, the museum is one of only a hadful of museums dedicated to soul music. 

• Bessie Smith African Cultural Center – “Located in an area once dubbed as the city’s black enterprise zone, (the famed 9th Street District) now known as M.L. King Boulevard, the museum’s original goal was to present the many contributions African Americans made to the development of Chattanooga.”  

 

Texas 

• African American Museum of Dallas – “The African American Museum was founded in 1974 as a part of the Special Collections at Bishop College, a historically black college that closed in 1988… The African American Museum is the only one of its kind in the Southwestern Region devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials.  It has one of the largest African American Folk Art collections in the US.”   

• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum – “The mission of the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum (BSNM) is to educate the public and to preserve, promote and perpetuate the history, tradition and outstanding contributions of America's Buffalo Soldiers from the Revolutionary War to the present.”  

• Houston Museum of African American Culture – “The mission of HMAAC is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations.”  

• Brazos Valley African American Museum – “The African American National Heritage Society (dba) Brazos Valley African American Museum was built on the site of one of the original black schools in the Brazos Valley…The museum is the first establishment of its kind to promote the history of African American citizens in the Brazos Valley.”   

 

Vermont 

• Vermont African-American Heritage Trail – “The trail takes you to Vermont museums and cultural sites where exhibits, films, tours and personal explorations will illuminate the lives of African Americans for whom the Green Mountain State was part of their identity. Others of these historic places chronicle eras, people and events significant to the journey of all African Americans. 

 

Virginia 

• Alexandria Black History Museum – “The mission of the Black History Museum is to enrich the lives of Alexandria's residents and visitors, to foster tolerance and understanding among all cultures and to stimulate appreciation of the diversity of the African American experience.”  

• Legacy Museum of African American History – “The Legacy Museum of African American History displays exhibits on African American heritage. We are dedicated to collecting, preserving and storing historical artifacts, documents and memorabilia relating to significant contributions of the African American Community in Lynchburg and its environs.”  

• Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia – “The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia presents the complex experiences of peoples of Africa and the African Diaspora, with an emphasis on Virginians, by collecting, preserving, and interpreting historical and cultural artifacts.”  

• Harrison Museum of African American Culture – “The Harrison Museum of African American Cultures, Inc. (HMAAC) is a cultural and educational institution committed to advocating, showcasing, preserving and celebrating the art and history of African Americans for Roanoke Valley citizens and visitors.”  

• Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County – “To educate all, in the African-American experience, while striving to create unity and build self-esteem, through programs, classes, workshops, and field trips. To create a network for people with similar interests by making records available to those interested in local history and tracing their family roots.”  

 

Washington  

• Northwest African American Museum – “NAAM’s mission is to spread knowledge, understanding, and enjoyment of the histories, arts and cultures of people of African descent for the enrichment of all. We accomplish our mission by working with others to: Present and preserve the connections between the Pacific Northwest and people of African descent; and to investigate and celebrate Black experiences in America through exhibitions, programs and events.” 

 

West Virginia 

• West Virginia Center for African American Art & Culture, Inc. – “The West Virginia Center for African-American Art & Culture, Inc. is a non-profit organization established to provide an enhanced cultural learning experience for all visitors. We are a diverse group of individuals with over twenty years of service through organizational community involvement. We share a belief in cultural and ethnic diversity—the embodiment of our multicultural society” 

 

Wisconsin

• America’s Black Holocaust Museum – “ABHM builds public awareness of the harmful legacies of slavery in America and promotes racial repair, reconciliation, and healing. We envision a society that remembers its past in order to shape a better future – a nation undivided by race where every person matters equally.”  

• Wisconsin Black Historical Society – “The mission of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society/Museum is to document and preserve the historical heritage of African descent in Wisconsin. The Museum exhibits, collects and disseminates materials depicting this heritage. Serving as a resource center for all people interested in Wisconsin’s rich African American heritage, the Museum’s purpose is to encourage and promote family community and cultural activities.