African American Historic Sites

DC United States
African American History Destinations in the DMV

National Museum of African American History and Culture

1400 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
The Smithsonian's newest museum has opened with sections focused on slavery as well as how African Americans have influenced business, sports, the visual and performing arts, and fashion. Expect to take a few days to be able to explore the 600 years of history that are packed into each level of the museum.

National Museum of African Art
 

950 Independence Ave SW
Washington, D.C. 20560
Celebrate the beauty and power of African art with this Smithsonian institution, founded in 1964 by a former U.S. Foreign Service officer known as Warren M. Robbins. This museum focuses on the traditional arts of sub-Saharan Africa as well as modern and contemporary artworks. According to the NMAfA website, this is the first museum in the U.S. to include a sustained focus on modern and contemporary African art in its mission. The museum website also hosts "Radio Africa," which offers hours of tracks of field recordings from remote villages, political protests, and Afro-pop artists.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
 

1850 W Basin Drive SW
Washington, D.C. 20024
 
No tour of Washington, D.C. is complete without visiting King's Memorial. This sculpture has undergone a few changes, but has always remained a towering, significant presence at the Tidal Basin, alongside other memorials like the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. This memorial was added in 2011. One of the quotations etched on the statue is, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope," which is a section from the August 28, 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream."

Howard University
 

2400 6th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20059
 
Founded in 1867, Howard University has been described as a "capstone of Negro education" due to its central role in African American education in Washington, D.C. Originally, the institution was a theological school before being chartered as a university by an act of the United States Congress in 1867. According to the Black Past blog, Howard University is the only historically black college to hold that distinction. Howard also established the first black law school in the nation. Alumni of the school include authors Toni Morrison and Zora Neal Hurston, Founder of the precursor to Black History Month Carter G. Woodson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Thurgood Marshall, and musician Sean Combs, who is more often known as "P. Diddy."

Malcolm X Park (a.k.a. Meridian Hill Park)
 

2500 16th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
 
In the 1960s, this park hosted a variety of political demonstrations. Because of this, activist Angela Davis unofficially renamed the park Malcolm X Park in 1969. The park is more commonly known as Meridian Hill Park, named so because the site was originally used as a geographic marker.

Ben's Chili Bowl
 

1213 U St NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
This landmark restaurant is known for serving chili dogs and half-smokes for roughly 50 years. So beloved is this restaurant that during the 1968 riots, the venue remained unscathed. It has been regularly visited by celebrities like Chris Tucker and Barack Obama as well as jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole. It has also been featured on TV shows like the Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" and "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations." The founder is Ben Ali, a Trinidadian-born immigrant and Howard University graduate.

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
 

1411 W St SE
Washington, D.C. 20020
 
Frederick Douglass was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, and statesman. He's known for escaping slavery and writing telling autobiographies. When he lived in Washington, D.C., he lived in this single-family home from 1877 to 1895. In 1988, the landmark was established as a National Historic Site and has been preserved ever since. At this historic site, visitors will be able to learn about the life and vision of Douglass.

Mary McLeod Bethune House
 

1318 Vermont Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20005
 
In this location was the first headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, an organization that combatted racial, class, and gender discrimination worldwide. It also served as the last home for Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune was the first person in her family born free and the only person in her family afforded a formal education. Her passion in life was to empower young African American women through education. She founded Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls in 1904, which was later renamed Bethune-Cookman College. In 1935, she became the highest ranking African American woman in the federal government, working as the Director of the Negro Division of a New Deal program called the National Youth Administration.

Anacostia Community Museum
 

1901 Fort Pl SE
Washington, D.C. 20020
 
This is one of the most underrated Smithsonian museums as well as one of the most worthy of a visit. The mission of the organization is to serve as an outreach effort to the local African American community through exhibitions and local programs focused on community issues and local history. This Smithsonian museum became the first federally funded community museum in the nation in 1967.

The Lincoln Theatre
 

1215 U St NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
Located on "Washington's Black Broadway," this theatre served the African American population of Washington, D.C. during the time when segregation forced them out of many musical venues. Past performers have included Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald. After the 1968 riots, the theatre fell into disrepair, but was later restored in 1993.

African American Civil War Museum and Memorial
 

1925 Vermont Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
This museum remembers and celebrates the 209,145 African-American soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War. The museum features photography, newspaper articles, and replicas of uniforms. A year before the museum opened, the memorial was unveiled in 1998, which serves to remember the United States Colored Troops (USCT). It depicts USCT soldiers surrounded by a wall that lists over 200,000 USCT soldiers.

The Howard Theatre
 

620 T St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
This historic theatre opened in 1910 before later undergoing a $30 million renovation in 2012. In its heyday, it served the African American population of Washington, D.C. and was billed the "Theater of the People." It has hosted artists like The Roots, Drake, and Gregory Porter. According to The Washington Post, the venue is currently struggling with "mismanagement and mounting financial problems," so be sure to visit the theatre while you can in case its decline continues.

Lincoln Memorial
 

2 Lincoln Memorial Circle NW
Washington, D.C. 20024
No trip to Washington, D.C. is final without visiting the Lincoln Memorial. While most may see the site as a location to remember the end of slavery, it's also a location to sit and remember one of the most important speeches made in U.S. history—Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. On August 28, 1963, King performed the speech on the steps of the memorial, delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters. In 2003, his words were etched on the place where he stood.

National Museum of the American Indian

4th St & Independence Ave SW,
Washington, DC 20560
The National Museum of the American Indian is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present, and future—through partnership with Native people and others. The National Museum of the American Indian houses one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of its kind. The museum's sweeping curvilinear architecture, its indigenous landscaping, and its exhibitions, all designed in collaboration with tribes and communities from across the hemisphere, combine to give visitors from around the world the sense and spirit of Native America.

Charles Sumner School
 

1201 17th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
When this school was constructed in 1872, it became the flagship school of the segregated, African American school system. This structure housed the first public high school for African American students. It was named after an abolitionist senator from Massachusetts. Currently, it houses a museum and archive for the D.C. public school records and artifacts.

Phyllis Wheatley YWCA
 

901 Rhode Island Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
This site memorializes Phillis Wheatley, the first African American woman professional poet and writer in the U.S., according to Henry Louis Gates in his publication, Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's Second Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers. The building houses the Phyllis Wheatley Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Inc., whose goal was to provide care and housing to African American women and girls flocking to the city to seek employment. The organization became affiliated with the National Board in 1918, and the building was dedicated on December 19, 1920 as the first “Colored” YWCA in the U.S. Currently, the 1920-built building is undergoing a $17 million renovation that will preserve 84 permanent, supportive, and affordable housing units for low-income women.

A. Philip Randolph Monument
 

50 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
At the Starbucks near Union Station's Amtrak boarding gates, there is a statue that is typically walked past, but little known. Despite this, it's well worth a visit as it honors a key leader in the Civil Rights movement, known as A. Philip Randolph. In 1925, he was elected president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the first labor unions led by black Americans, according to History.. He lobbied President Franklin Roosevelt for fair employment practices, his work eventually leading to the signing of Executive Order 8802, which prohibited racial discrimination in defense industries.

Emancipation Monument
 

East Capitol St
Washington, D.C. 20002
 
At the corner of East Capitol and 11 streets NE, visitors of Lincoln Park can find a statue of President Abraham Lincoln and a newly freed slave at what is known as the Emancipation Monument. This monument was created in 1874 by Thomas Ball. Other names that this monument goes by include the Freedman’s Memorial or the Emancipation Group. The statue originally faced west towards the U.S. Capitol. It was rotated in 1974 to face east towards the Mary McLeod Bethune monument.

Sojourner Truth
 

East Capitol Circle
Washington, D.C. 20016
 
This is the U.S. Capitol's first sculpture to honor an African-American woman. Located in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, this bronze bust honors abolitionist and women's-rights advocate Sojourner Truth. The bust was unveiled on April 28, 2009, donated by the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. The artist behind the bust is California-based sculptor Artis Lane.

The Shaw Memorial
 

Constitution Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20565
 
American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens created this patinated plaster monument in order to memorialize Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the first Civil War regiment of African Americans enlisted in the North, known as the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Since 1997, this artwork has been located in the National Gallery of Art's West Building on a long-term loan.

Alexandria Black History Museum

902 Wythe St,
Alexandria, VA 22314

The Alexandria Black History Museum, located at 902 Wythe St., Alexandria, Virginia, is operated by the City of Alexandria. The building was formerly the Robert Robinson Library, originally constructed in 1940 as the first "separate but equal" library for African Americans in the segregated city. The Alexandria Black History Museum includes the Museum, the Watson Reading Room, and the Alexandria African American Heritage Park. 

Banneker-Douglass Museum
 

84 Franklin St,
Annapolis, MD 21401
The Banneker-Douglass Museum, formerly known as Mt. Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic church at Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. It was constructed in 1875 and remodeled in 1896. It is a 2 ¹⁄₂-story, gable-front brick church executed in the Gothic Revival style. Our key resources include operating the State’s official museum on African American History and Culture (Banneker Douglass Museum) and the States $1-million African American Heritage Preservation Grant Program.

Franklin and Armfield Office

1315 Duke Street
Alexandria, Virginia.
The Franklin and Armfield Office, which houses the Freedom House Museum, is a historic commercial building at 1315 Duke Street in Alexandria, Virginia (until 1846, the District of Columbia). Built c. 1810-20, it was first used as a private residence before being converted to the offices of the largest slave trading firm in the United States, started in 1828 by Isaac Franklin and John Armfield. "As many as [a] million people are thought to have passed through between 1828 and 1861, on their way to bondage in Mississippi and Louisiana". Another source, using ship manifests (lists of slaves) in the National Archives, gives the number as "at least 5,000". The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, and has also been designated a Virginia Historic Landmark. The building is owned by the Northern Virginia Urban League; it is operated as a museum, with exhibits about the slave trading firm and the life of a slave.

Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site

1538 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site at 1538 9th Street NW, in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., preserves the home of Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950). Woodson, the founder of Black History Month, was an African-American historian, author, and journalist. The property served as Dr. Woodson's home from 1922 until his death in 1950. From this three-story Victorian rowhouse, Woodson managed the operations of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, published the Negro History Bulletin and the Journal of Negro History, operated Associated Publishers, and pursued his own research and writing about African-American history. The home continued to serve as the national headquarters of the Association until the early 1970s. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 but became vacant in the 1990s. In 2001, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the site on its annual "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list. With advocacy by the NTHP, the DC Preservation League, community activists, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the National Historic Site was authorized by Public Law 108-192 on December 19, 2003, and established by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton on February 27, 2006. In 2005, the property was acquired by the National Park Service which opened it to the public in 2017. It is operated in conjunction with the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.
Benjamin Banneker Memorial Park in L’Enfant Plaza
429 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20024
At the end of L’Enfant Boulevard (10th Street, SW) in Southwest DC there is a park dedicated to Benjamin Banneker. Benjamin Banneker was an African-American scientist who worked with L’Enfant and Andrew Ellicott to map out the city of Washington. Banneker became a mathematician, astronomer, inventor, and writer. Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731 and died in Baltimore in 1806. The park was designed by Dan Kiley and opened in November 1971. In 1998, Congress passed legislation that authorized a Banneker memorial in D.C.  This park site was chosen for that memorial, and it is managed by the National Park Service.
 
 
 
 
Courtsey of Doretha Anderson