List of museums focused on African Americans


This is a list of museums in the United States whose primary focus is on African American culture and history. Such museums are commonly known as African American museums. According to scholar Raymond Doswell, an African American museum is "an institution established for the preservation of African-derived culture."
Museums have a mission of "collecting and preserving material on history and cultural heritage." African American museums share these goals with archives, genealogy groups, historical societies, and research libraries. Museums differ from archives, genealogy groups, historical societies, memorials, and research libraries because they have as a basic educational or aesthetic purpose the collection and display of objects, and regular exhibitions for the public. Being open to the public and having regular hours sets museums apart from historical sites or other facilities that may call themselves museums.

History of African American museums in the United States

The first African American museum was the College Museum in Hampton, Virginia, established in 1868. Prior to 1950, there were about 30 museums devoted to African American culture and history in the United States. These were located primarily at historically black colleges and universities or at libraries that had significant African American culture and history collections.
Important collections were developed at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina; Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee; Howard University in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania; Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland; Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama; and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. Additionally, local historical societies, history clubs, and reading groups in African American communities also collected and displayed African American cultural artifacts.
The first independent, nonprofit African American museums in the United States were The African American Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, Illinois, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan. Throughout the 1960s, the energy of the American Civil Rights Movement led to numerous local African American museums being founded. Between 1868 and 1991, there were about 150 African American museums established in 37 states.
Since its opening in 2016, the largest African American museum in the United States is the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The previous record holder was the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.

List of museums

This is a sortable table. Click on the column you wish it sorted by.
NameCityStateFoundedReferencesImage
A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter MuseumChicagoIllinois1995
African American Civil War Memorial MuseumWashingtonD.C.1999
African-American Research Library and Cultural CenterFort LauderdaleFlorida2002
African American Firefighter MuseumLos AngelesCalifornia1997
African American Multicultural MuseumScottsdaleArizona2005
African American MuseumDallasTexas1974
African American Museum and Library at OaklandOaklandCalifornia1994
African American Museum in Cleveland, TheClevelandOhio1956
African American Museum in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaPennsylvania1976
African American Museum of IowaCedar RapidsIowa2003
African American Museum of Nassau CountyHempsteadNew York1970
African American Museum of the ArtsDeLandFlorida1994
African American Museum of Southern IllinoisCarbondaleIllinois1997
Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society MuseumJersey CityNew Jersey1984
Alabama State Black Archives Research Center and MuseumHuntsvilleAlabama1990
Alexandria Black History MuseumAlexandriaVirginia1987
America's Black Holocaust MuseumMilwaukeeWisconsin1988
Anacostia MuseumWashingtonD.C.1967
Anne Spencer House and Garden MuseumLynchburgVirginia1977
APEX MuseumAtlantaGeorgia1978
Arthur "Smokestack" Hardy Fire MuseumBaltimoreMaryland1995
Banneker-Douglass MuseumAnnapolisMaryland1984
Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and MuseumOellaMaryland1998
Bertha Lee Strickland Cultural MuseumSenecaSouth Carolina2015
Birmingham Civil Rights InstituteBirminghamAlabama1992
Black American West Museum & Heritage CenterDenverColorado1971
Black Cowboy MuseumRosenbergTexas2017
Black History 101 Mobile MuseumDetroitMichigan1995
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of VirginiaRichmondVirginia1988
Bontemps African American MuseumAlexandriaLouisiana1988
Brazos Valley African American MuseumBryanTexas2006
Buffalo Soldiers National MuseumHoustonTexas2000
California African American MuseumLos AngelesCalifornia1981
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American HistoryDetroitMichigan1965
Clemson Area African American MuseumClemsonSouth Carolina2010
Delta Cultural CenterHelenaArkansas1991
Destination CrenshawLos AngelesCalifornia2019
Dorchester Academy and MuseumMidwayGeorgia2004
Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History MuseumSt. PetersburgFlorida2006
DuSable Museum of African American HistoryChicagoIllinois1960
Finding Our Roots African American MuseumHoumaLouisiana2017
Frederick Douglass National Historic SiteWashingtonD.C.1962
George Washington Carver Museum, TheTuskegeeAlabama1941
George Washington Carver MuseumPhoenixArizona1980
George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural CenterAustinTexas1980
Great Blacks in Wax MuseumBaltimoreMaryland1983
Great Plains Black History MuseumOmahaNebraska1975
Griot Museum of Black History, TheSt. LouisMissouri1997
Hammonds House MuseumAtlantaGeorgia1988
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor CenterChurch CreekMaryland2017
Harvey B. Gantt CenterCharlotteNorth Carolina1974
Idaho Black History MuseumBoiseIdaho1995
International African American MuseumCharlestonSouth Carolina2019
International Civil Rights Center and MuseumGreensboroNorth Carolina2010
John E. Rogers African American Cultural CenterHartfordConnecticut1991
John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and CultureTallahasseeFlorida1996
Kansas African-American MuseumWichitaKansas1997
L.E. Coleman African-American MuseumHalifax County, VirginiaVirginia2005
LaVilla MuseumJacksonvilleFlorida1999
Legacy Museum, TheMontgomeryAlabama2018
Legacy Museum of African American HistoryLynchburgVirginia2000
Lewis H. Latimer HouseNew York City New York2004
Louis Armstrong HouseNew York City New York2003
Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site Visitors CenterAtlantaGeorgia1996
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic SiteWashingtonD.C.1979
Mary McLeod Bethune HomeDaytona BeachFlorida1956
Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage MuseumNew Smyrna BeachFlorida1999
Mayme A. Clayton Library and MuseumCulver CityCalifornia2010
Mississippi Civil Rights MuseumJacksonMississippi2017
MoCADANew York City New York1999
Mosaic Templars Cultural CenterLittle RockArkansas2008
Muhammad Ali CenterLouisvilleKentucky2005
Museum of African American History & Abiel Smith SchoolBostonMassachusetts1964
Museum of the African DiasporaSan FranciscoCalifornia2005
Natchez Museum of African American History and CultureNatchezMississippi1991
National African American Archives and MuseumMobileAlabama1992
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural CenterWilberforceOhio1987
National Center for Civil and Human RightsAtlantaGeorgia2014
National Center of Afro-American ArtistsRoxburyMassachusetts1969
National Civil Rights MuseumMemphisTennessee1991
National Museum of African American History and CultureWashingtonD.C.2016
National Museum of African American MusicNashvilleTennessee2013
National Underground Railroad Freedom CenterCincinnatiOhio2004
National Voting Rights MuseumSelmaAlabama1991
Negro Leagues Baseball MuseumKansas CityMissouri1990
New Orleans African American MuseumNew OrleansLouisiana1988
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage CenterNiagara FallsNew York2018
Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage MuseumMonroeLouisiana1994
Northwest African American MuseumSeattleWashington2008
Odell S. Williams Now And Then African-American MuseumBaton RougeLouisiana2001
Old Dillard MuseumFort LauderdaleFlorida1995
Oran Z's Black Facts and Wax MuseumLos AngelesCalifornia2000
Paul R. Jones Collection of African American ArtNewarkDelaware2004
Prince George's African American Museum and Cultural CenterNorth BrentwoodMaryland2010
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & CultureBaltimoreMaryland2005
River Road African American MuseumDonaldsonvilleLouisiana1994
Rosa Parks MuseumMontgomeryAlabama2000
Rural African American MuseumOpelousasLouisiana2018
Sandy Ground Historical MuseumNew York City New York1994
Slave Mart MuseumCharlestonSouth Carolina1938
Smith-Robertson Museum and Cultural CenterJacksonMississippi1984
Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and MuseumTallahasseeFlorida1976
Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History MuseumSpringfieldIllinois2012
Studio Museum in HarlemNew York City New York1968
Tangipahoa African American Heritage MuseumHammondLouisiana2005
Tubman African American MuseumMaconGeorgia1981
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic SiteTuskegeeAlabama2008
Tuskegee Airmen National MuseumDetroitMichigan1987
Weeksville Heritage CenterNew York City New York2005
Wells' Built MuseumOrlandoFlorida2001
Whitney PlantationSt. John the Baptist ParishLouisiana2014
Willam V. Banks Broadcast MuseumDetroitMichigan2017