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Black Museums

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History and Culture of People of African Heritage

This lens celebrates museums documenting the lives of people of African heritage all over the world. It includes museums in Africa and the United States, as well as information about exhibitions and events.

This list is by no means exhaustive. It will continue to be updated.

Table of Contents

  1. Black Museums
  2. Museums in Africa
  3. United States
  4. Great Stuff on Amazon
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Black Museums

Preserving the History and Culture of African People

This lens lists museums about people of African heritage and culture in the United States and all over the world.

Preserving our cultural heritage is particularly important for those of us from the African Diaspora, as our heritage was stolen from us. Recording and preserving our artefacts is an important part of the process of reclaiming our identity, our ancestral heritage and our sense of self.

It is essential that we see ourselves within the context of the international community of African people.

This lens is very much a work in progress. Keep coming back, as I will keep adding more.

Museums in Africa

Museums in Africa

Botswana National Museum
Opened in 1968, the Botswana National Museum aims at creating in Batswana and everyone an interest in Botswana's diverse cultural heritage.

Located at the heart of Gaborone City, it is a delightful compound of museum and gallery, which preserves and recounts the traces and memory of the lives of Batswana.
National Museum of Music, Burkina Faso
The National Museum of Music is located in Ouagadougou in a two-story building on Oubritenga Avenue on the south side of the Phillipe Zinda Kabore School.

Instruments from all families are represented including aerophones, membranophones, idiophones and chordophones. Each object is the only one of its kind and varies from 5 to 200 years in age.
Nairobi National Museum, Kenya
was initiated in 1910 by the then East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society [currently the East African Natural History Society (EANHS)].

The group consisted mainly of colonial settlers and naturalists who needed a place to keep and preserve their collections of various specimens. Its first site was at the present Nyayo House in the Nairobi city centre. The site soon became small and a larger building was put up in 1922 where the Nairobi Serena Hotel now stands.

The galleries have been reorganised to interpret the heritage of Kenya to stimulate appreciation and learning.
National Museums of Kenya
The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) is a state corporation established by an Act of Parliament, the National Museums and Heritage Act, 2006 no. 6 of 2006. NMK is a multi-disciplinary institution whose role is to collect, preserve, study, document and present Kenya's past and present cultural and natural heritage. This is for the purposes of enhancing knowledge, appreciation, respect and sustainable utilization of these resources for the benefit of Kenya and the world, for now and posterity.
Iziko South African Museum
The South African Museum was founded in 1825.

The South African Museum traces the material cultural heritage of our indigenous populations back to their earliest origins, and the research collections are studied by scientists and students world-wide.
Museums of Nigeria
This page lists several dozen Nigerian museums.
The Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid Museum, the first of its kind, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid.

Starting in 1948, the white elected National Party government implemented the policy of apartheid which turned 20 million people into second
class citizens, damning them to a life of servitude, humiliation and abuse.

The exhibits have been assembled and organised by a multi-disciplinary team of curators, film-makers, historians and designers.
The Nelson Mandela National Museum
Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country.
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, formerly the King George VI Art Gallery, was opened on 22 June 1956 and renamed in December 2002. The Art Museum is a registered institutional member of the IIC ( International Institute for Conservation).
Margate Art Museum, South Africa
Margate Art Museum Opened in 1994 and is one of five municipal art galleries in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It operates within a large region that is mostly rural and incorporates several popular coastal towns. The museum consists of the main gallery (approx. twenty square meters), conservation room, office and adjoining educational venue/exhibition space and is connected to the Margate Library.

United States

Black Museums in the United States

Documenting and celebrating the history and culture of African American people.
Alabama State Black Archives
In 1987, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill establishing the State Black Archives Research Center & Museum.

Exhibits include Black Women: Achievement Against The Odds, which features photos of Black women from a range of occupations including medicine, law, entertainment, politics andeducation.
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Alabama)
The Mission of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is to promote civil and human rights throughout the world.

September 24: Smithsonian Museum Day

Get a ticket for free admission to BCRI for two people click here to get ticket, fill out the information and the ticket will be emailed to you. Just print out the ticket and present it to BCRI on September 24 during normal hours.
EMOBA - The Museum of Black Arkansas and Performing Arts Centre (Arkansas)
EMOBA began as a dream. Ernie Dodson is the founder and director of the museum of black Arkansans and performing arts center. Her dream is to provide a true representation of the contributions to Arkansas' heritage and future by the Afro-American community.

EMOBA's mission is to showcase past generations of black Arkansans with the hope that those contributions will serve as an inspirational instrument in keeping the heritage alive to promote pride and unity in all communities throughout Arkansas.
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (Arkansas)
The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (MTCC) was founded as the Mosaic Templars of America Center for African American Culture and Business Enterprise under Act 1176 of 2001. MTCC was created as a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and it honors the story of the Mosaic Templars of America and all of Arkansas's African American history.

The Mission Statement of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is to collect, preserve, interpret, and celebrate Arkansas's African American history, culture, and community from 1870 to the present, and to educate the public about black achievement - especially in business, politics, and the arts.

The collections include Arkansas's Black Legislators - Then and Now.
http://www.mosaictemplarscenter.com/collections/legislators.aspx

and the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
http://www.mosaictemplarscenter.com/exhibits/living-history.aspx
The African American Art and Culture Complex (California)
The African American Art and Culture Complex (AAACC) is a community based 501c3 nonprofit arts and cultural organization. Our mission is to nurture and facilitate the empowerment of our community through Afro-centric artistic and cultural expression, mediums, education and programming. The AAACC is dedicated to inspiring children and youth to serve as agents of change, cultivating their leadership skills and fostering a commitment to community service and activism. In addition, the AAACC is dedicated to encouraging, supporting, and promoting the work of young aspiring Bay Area artists. We also strive to develop partnerships with organizations that are similarly committed to our mission driven objectives.

Current Exhibition
Our Soldiers' Stories: The Civil Rights Struggle, African-American GIs and Germany

Sargent Johnson Gallery (Floor 1)
Thu, Jan 13 -- Fri, Apr 22
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 13, 2011; 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (California)
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.
Antelope Valley African American Museum (California)
Regular historical exhibits on African kings, the process of weaving Kente cloth and the contributions of important African Americans. Admission: Donations accepted.
California African American Museum
Current exhibits include Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing:
How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment. For more about this, see: Black History/Cultural Events.
Museum of the African Diaspora (California)
The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that was conceived as a cornerstone of the economic and cultural revitalization of downtown San Francisco. Since it opened in December 2005, MoAD has become an anchor with its neighbors, the San Francisco MoMA, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Zeum, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum, in making this dynamic cultural corridor a premier cultural destination.
The Black American West Museum (Colorado)
The Black American West Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving and disseminating the contributions of Blacks in the Old West.

While famous for telling the story of Black cowboys, we are broader than this with interests in the stories of all those early Blacks who came west and performed as miners, soldiers, homesteaders, ranchers, blacksmiths, schoolteachers, lawmen, and every other profession needed to build up the West. In fact, the Museum itself is in the home of Dr. Justina Ford, Colorado's first Black woman doctor!
The African American Museum of Art (Florida)
Founded in 1994 and located in historic DeLand, Florida, AAMA is a unique and vital resource in this part of Florida. It is the only museum in the area devoted primarily to African American cultures and art.
The John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and Culture (Florida)
The Riley House is a historical and cultural gem that sits at the bottom of a hill in downtown Tallahassee, at the corner of Meridian and Jefferson Streets.
Bronzeville Children's Museum, (Illinois)
This is billed as "the first and only African American children's museum in the country". The museum was founded on August 20, 1993. Named after Bronzeville, where African Americans settled in Chicago after coming from the South. In this area, they created a booming business, cultural, political and residential center known at first as Black Metropolis and later as Bronzeville.
The DuSable Museum (Illinois)
The DuSable Museum of African American History located in the historic Hyde Park area of Chicago at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Washington Park unites art, history and culture.

Founded in 1961 by teacher and art historian Dr. Margaret Burroughs and other leading Chicago citizens, the DuSable Museum is one of the few independent institutions of its kind in the United States. Developed to preserve and interpret the experiences and achievements of people of African descent, it is dedicated to the collection, documentation, preservation and study of the history and culture of Africans and African Americans.

The Museum is named for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a Haitian of African and French descent, who in 1779 established the trading post and permanent settlement which would become known as Chicago.

Current Exhibition:
Red, White, Blue & Black: A History of Blacks in the Armed Services

Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration

The Harambee Pre-Kwanzaa Festival is an exciting musical celebration of family, community and culture, featuring Kwame Steve Cobb and Chavunduka, performing songs from their highly acclaimed recording, Seven Principles. Their dynamic multi-media, concert presentation teaches the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa.

December 8th 10:30AM and December 9th 8:00PM
The African American Museum of Iowa
The heritage of African Americans in Iowa was in danger of being lost without major efforts to preserve it. In 1994, a small group from Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids began the project in celebration of Black History Month.

The mission is To preserve, publicize, and educate the public on the African American heritage and culture of Iowa.

We will be holding a Kwanzaa event this year on Saturday, December 17.
Tenika Johnson
tjohnson@blackiowa.org
Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site (Kansas)
Run by the Department of the Interior.

During August and September, the museum will feature an exhibition entitled Commemorating Our Nation's Struggle for Freedom. For more info, see: Black History/Cultural Events.
The Kansas African American Museum (Kansas)
The Kansas African American Museum, formerly the venerable old 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.

Holds regular events for seniors.
The Muhammad Ali Center (Kentucky)
For many years, Muhammad Ali has dreamed of "creating a place to share, teach, and inspire people to be their best and to pursue their dreams." In 1997, the Muhammad Ali Center was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a 501(c)3 corporation. Muhammad and his wife Lonnie founded the Ali Center and chose their hometown of Louisville as the site in the city where Ali's life began and as the place where his legacy would be promoted and shared with the rest of the world.

The mission of the Muhammad Ali Center is to preserve and share the legacy and ideals of Muhammad Ali, to promote respect, hope, and understanding, and to inspire adults and children everywhere to be as great as they can be.
Arna Wendell Bontemps Museum (Louisiana)
The Arna Bontemps African American Museum and Cultural Arts Center was founded in 1988 by the Arna Bontemps Foundation, Incorporated, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. The organization was formed through the Division of Community Affairs, Office of the Mayor, City of Alexandria, Louisiana.

The Museum is the restored childhood home of Arna Bontemps - poet, author, anthologist, and librarian - who was considered the leading authority of the Harlem Renaissance. The period - sometimes referred to as the "New Negro" movement - is when young Black writers went to Harlem to share the Black experience through their writing.

Arna Bontemps - a noted Black poet, author, anthologist, librarian - was born in Alexandria, Louisiana on October 13, 1902.

He is credited with writing over 20 books, plays, and anthologies and was considered the leading authority on the Harlem Renaissance.
He was part of a core of young Black writers who led the "New Negro" movement. Bontemps wanted a front row seat to view and participate in the stirrings of jazz, theater and literature taking place in Harlem.

His scholarly interest in fostering a new appraisal of his race and re-evaluation of the Black man's place in American history is just a part of his legacy.
The River Road African American Museum (Louisiana)
The River Road African American Museum, located in the historic district of Donaldsonville, Louisiana is the premier facilitiy in the South to focus on the history and heritage of African Americans along the Mississippi River.
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Michigan)
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East Warren
Detroit, Michigan

Next event: 4th of September 2011
azz vocalist Kathy Kosins's stage show Rhapsody In Boop: A Tribute To Betty Boop. Also joining Kathy, string bassist Paul Keller leading the big band and Detroit jazz icon, saxophonist George Benson. The show consists of music from Max Fleischer's Betty Boop animated cartoons of the 1930s including selections from Louis Armstrong,Cab Calloway, and Don Redman. This special event will be held at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
The Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City (Missouri)
The Black Archives of Mid-America, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a center for learning and research into the African American experience in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and the Midwest at large.

We house a large collection of manuscripts and artifacts including photographs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and rare books that are available for research and study.
The Black World History Wax Museum (Missouri)
Lois D Conley founded this fascinating place to experience African American history in 1997; life-size wax figures of Dred and Harriet Scott, George Washington Carver, Josephine Baker, John Barry Meacham, Madame CJ Walker and Miles Davis awaken your sense of remembrance of appreciation for their contributions to Black world history; the museum also videos, games, and history hunt; group tours available
The African American Museum in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)
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.

Kwanzaa Celebration
Saturday, December 31
12pm - 3pm
Join AAMP for a family-friendly day of Kwanzaa activities that will bring you into the New Year with renewed energy.
Kwanzaa Celebration
The African American Museum 's Kwanzaa celebration, For more about Kwanzaa, see: http://www.squidoo.com/Kwanzaa_Traditional_African_Values
The National Civil Rights Museum (Tennessee)
The National Civil Rights Museum was birthed out of the success of the civil rights movement and the tragic violence that occurred at the Lorraine Motel, taking the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The aftershock of the assassination on April 4, 1968 eventually plunged the Lorraine into a long and steep decline. The motel's owner, Walter Lane Bailey maintained two rooms - Rooms 306 & 307 - as a shrine to Dr. King and in memory of his wife Loree who died days after the assassination.

The museum became custodian of the police and evidence files associated with the manhunt, indictment and confession of the assassin of Dr. King. This transfer affords the National Civil Right Museum the distinction of being the first museum of its kind to receive evidence materials and court documents connected with a criminal case into its collection holdings.
The African American Museum (Texas)
For more than 25 years, the African American Museum has stood as a cultural beacon in Dallas and the Southwestern United States. Started in 1974 as a part of the Bishop College Special Collection, the Museum has operated independently since 1979.
Alexandria Black History Museum (Virginia)
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.

The institutional complex is composed of the Museum, the Watson Reading Room, and the Alexandria African American Heritage Park.

The Family Kwanzaa CelebrationSaturday December 10th - Program from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - ideal for children and their parents. Conducted by Culture Kingdom Kids, educator Jessica Smith will teach families fun and creative ways to celebrate the seven days of Kwanzaa through a variety of interactive performances, hands-on activities and crafts. "Culture Queen," the superhero mascot of Culture Kingdom Kids, will also make a special appearance. Families will be culturally enriched and better prepared to celebrate Kwanzaa in their homes and communities. Admission is $5 per person, and advance reservations are recommended.

The Black Candle Then, at 4:30 p.m., attend a free screening of "The Black Candle: A Kwanzaa Celebration." This vibrant documentary from M.K. Asante uses Kwanzaa as a vehicle to explore and celebrate the African-American experience. Filmed across the United States, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean, "The Black Candle" is a timely illumination on why the seven principles of Kwanzaa are so important to African Americans today. Narrated by Maya Angelou, it traces the holiday's growth out of the Black Power Movement in the 1960s to its present-day reality as a global, pan-African holiday embraced by over 40 million celebrants. This viewing is part of "Movies with a Mission," a series of films about the African Diaspora that seek to inform and inspire dialogue.
The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Washington, D.C.)
The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. Run by the Department of the Interior.
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (Washington, D.C.)
Traditionally, a major goal of the Museum has been to provide visitors with material evidence of the African American experience from a community perspective, while underscoring the idea that the things that make people distinctly different are also the things that make us all universally the same.
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (Washington, D.C.)
Current events include "For All The World To See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights". For more about this, see Black History/Cultural Events.

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