You have the rest of the year to plan for your future, but Black History Month is a time to learn from the past. This month, consider celebrating Black History Month by visiting places that honor significant events and people in African American history. Head out on a weekend road trip with a few stops in mind, or spend a day lingering at one of these remarkable landmarks of black American culture.
Selma to Montgomery Historic Trail
The National Museum of African American History and Culture
Located in Washington, DC, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is the largest institution in the country dedicated to educating the public on black history. Opened in 2016, the NMAAHC has collected more than 36,000 artifacts that chronicle the resilience, ingenuity, and creativity of black Americans. With free admission, this is the perfect place for families and individuals to visit and commemorate Black History Month while exposing themselves to unique cultural expression.
Beale Street Historic District
Officially declared the “Home of Blues” by Congress in 1977, Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, has been frequented by unmatched musicians throughout history, including the great B.B. King, who was locally known as “Beale Street Blues Boy.” Co-founder of the NAACP, Ida B. Wells, also founded the publication Free Speech, headquartered in the Beale Street Baptist Church, a building constructed by formerly enslaved people. Though the area has been redeveloped over time, Beale Street is still a lively neighborhood where locals and visitors alike can celebrate Black History Month.
Little Rock Central High School
Years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case ruled in 1954 that segregated schools were unconstitutional, several brave teens, known as the Little Rock Nine, enrolled at the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School. The building, known as one of the most beautiful high schools in the country, was initially blockaded by the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the nine African American students from entering, but President Dwight Eisenhower soon ordered them to protect the students instead. Today, the school is considered a National Historic Site for the part it played in desegregation, with guided tours available with a reservation.
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel
Though the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, is infamously known as the assassination place of Martin Luther King Jr., today it has been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, an educational sanctuary well worth visiting during Black History Month. The museum complex is comprised of the Lorraine Building, chronologically walking visitors through black history with multimedia exhibits and hundreds of artifacts. Across the street, the Legacy Building focuses on the 1968 assassination of Dr. King and how his message lives on, continuing to influence human rights efforts on a global scale to this day.
Africatown
Last year, the discovery of the long-lost slave ship Clotilda in Alabama's Mobile River resurrected the memory of Africatown. Believed to have landed somewhere between 1859 and 1860, the schooner illegally carried 110 enslaved people from West Africa to the Americas. Some of the enslaved Africans onboard eventually became free and created the small community of Africatown a few miles from downtown Mobile. After economic decline, Africatown was almost forgotten and left behind, but residents are hopeful for a resurgence of interested visitors, especially this year, during the first Black History Month since the ship was discovered.
DuSable Museum of African American History
Tucked in the historic Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois, the DuSable Museum of African American History combines incredible information and art. Named after Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a black man known as the first non-indigenous resident of Chicago, the museum aims to promote the history of black Americans while displaying art pieces of great cultural significance. DMAAH is known for highlighting lesser-known stories in black history, making it an excellent place to be during Black History Month.
