The Truth of Black History Will Set You Free

Share

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali. 
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC
African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie
Kidnapped: The Middle Passage
Image of the first black members of Congress
Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom
The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200
One Hundred Years of Jim Crow
Civil Rights protest in Alabama
I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice
Black Lives Matter movement
NOW: Free At Last?
#15-Beitler photo best TF reduced size
Memorial to the Victims of Lynching
hands raised black background
The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall
Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville
Special Exhibits

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Ways to Support ABHM?

by Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware, Word in Black

Alfred Street Baptist Church
Alfred Street Baptist Church (By APK – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

If you haven’t seen For Colored Girls in Black History, then you obviously were not present for morning worship on February 25 at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

It was a sight to behold, with the familiar staging of Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem animated by the voices of Maya Angelou, Mahalia Jackson, Harriet Tubman and Madame C.J. Walker. And the preacher of the day was Dr. Kevin James, 19th president of Maurice Brown College, who told the story of the school’s beginning in 1881 through its loss of accreditation. He told how the school survived 20 years without accreditation, a miracle in itself, is now in a #HardReset and will soon break ground on campus for a $40 million phenomenal hotel. He attributed the school’s survival to the triple As: Almighty God, the best alumni in the world, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. On April 26, 2022, the Board of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools gave Morris Brown College full accreditation. 

On its website, New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore advertised a Black History Month University over three days in February, promising things “you don’t know.”

[…]

In Florida in response to recent laws banning the teaching of Black history it is reported that nearly 300 churches have incorporated Black history lessons into their worship, and into special programs for the entire community to enjoy.

On any given Sunday of February in any given year, the likes of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X speak volumes to those in attendance at Black churches around the country. Today, there is a pointed interest in telling people who have never heard it, and who may not be hearing it at the kitchen table as some of the elders heard it long ago. 

Read more.

Find more Black history in our online exhibits.

More Black history and culture stories.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.

Leave a Comment