21 Black History Month Destinations You Should Visit

Learn about African-American life and history at these museums, historical sites and monuments.

By: Deanne Revel and Felicia Feaster

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Ways to Celebrate Black Contributions to American Life

Though every month is worth celebrating, Black History Month is an opportunity to spend some thoughtful, dedicated time to looking at how deeply African Americans have impacted American life in music, the arts, the civil rights movement and in so many other ways. Read on for our picks of some of the best places to visit to see that legacy in action.

Visit a Mind-Expanding Museum Dedicated to African American Music

The National Museum of African American Music has been in the works for nearly two decades. This long-awaited museum, which opened in 2021, celebrates more than 50 musical genres inspired by African Americans, including jazz, rap, soul, hip-hop, and gospel. The National Museum of African American Music is the only museum of its kind in the country, NMAAM traces the influence Black Americans have had on American music from the slaves who brought sounds and rhythms from Africa to these shores to the enormous impact of hip hop on contemporary life. Immersive and participatory, the museum is welcoming to a variety of ages and with so much to see and experience, it's a good idea to devote 2-3 hours (the museum recommends 90 minutes) to experiencing NMAAM. You can purchase a wristband for $1 that allows you to save music and videos to enjoy later, a great interactive element that expands your experience beyond the museum's walls.

Learn More: Nashville City Guide: The 15+ Best Things to See and Do

The HBCU All-Star Battle of the Bands

If you love the heart-pounding sound of marching bands and the incredible choreography of j-setting dancers, then you will want to make time each February for the annual HBCU All-Star Battle of the Bands at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) marching band and dance team showcase in the world, the event welcomes 60,000 to Atlanta each year and has featured more than 35,000 student musicians during its 17 years in existence. The music and dancing (by both dance troupes and the band members) is extraordinary as both high school and college teams compete for top honors and display the kind of school spirit that will get you up on your feet and dancing and clapping along.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

The newest addition to the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened its doors in 2016 and is devoted to the "documentation of African American life, history, and culture." The museum features more than 36,000 artifacts with collections on African American music, literature, photography and more.

Center for Civil and Human Rights

Opened in 2014 in the cradle of the civil rights movement, Atlanta, Georgia, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights focuses on both permanent and temporary exhibitions that tell the history of the civil rights movement in the United States. The permanent collection tackles the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, global human rights and the personal artifacts and papers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

America's Black Holocaust Museum

Opening in February 2022, Milwaukee's America's Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) takes visitors on a chronological journey through the Black holocaust from 1619 to today. Exhibits include a re-created slave ship and content devoted to slavery, civil rights, Black power and the complicated, often painful history of Black Americans. ABHM is the brainchild of James Cameron, who after visiting the Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Israel, decided to create a monument to America's own troubled racial history. The museum is part of the renaissance of the African American neighborhood of Bronzeville that has grown into a diverse mix of art collectives, food halls and restaurants.

Museum of the African Diaspora

San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora, or MoAD, is a contemporary art museum dedicated to Black culture. In addition to fine art, the Smithsonian affiliate museum features a poet-in-residence program.

Pictured: Juliana Huxtable's Untitled (Psychosocial Stuntin’), 2015. Color inkjet print from the 2019 exhibition Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem.

National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery houses many portraits of iconic African Americans, from a painting of Lena Horne to an antique photograph of Frederick Douglass. One of the most recent additions and must-sees are the official portraits for President Obama in the America's Presidents gallery and the official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama in the 20th Century Americans gallery, done by two African American contemporary artists Kehinde Wiley (President Obama) and Amy Sherald (Michelle Obama). Those portraits will tour the country through May 2022 and can be seen during Black History Month at Atlanta's High Museum of Art from Jan. 14 through March 20, 2022.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Detroit’s Black heritage runs deep, from the Underground Railroad to Motown Records. There are so many cultural and historic sites to see, but if you only have limited time in the city, head to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The museum has more than 35,000 artifacts including permanent collections about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

The US Civil Rights Trail

Established in 2018, the US Civil Rights Trail preserves the history of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s across 14 states, from Delaware to Kansas. The trail connects more than 100 landmarks and historical sites, from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

Museum of Pop Culture

The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle features an exhibition devoted to hip hop, Contact High: A Visual History of Hip Hop, through March 2023. Also check out an exhibition centered on a man considered to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Jimi Hendrix. Fans can learn more about the musician in his hometown at Wild Blue Angel: Hendrix Abroad, 1966-1970. This permanent exhibit lets guests travel alongside Hendrix during the height of his career and final years of his life. See his passport, read his journal and hear rare interview clips.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

America’s pastime has deep African American roots. In the early 1900s, Black Americans weren’t allowed to play on Major League Baseball teams, but that didn’t stop athletes from playing and forming their own teams. Today, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, preserves the history of Black baseball players from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor

Extending from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is home to the Gullah and the Geechee people, descendants of slaves from West and Central Africa. To learn more about the heritage and history of the area, visit the Geechee Kunda Museum in Riceboro, Georgia, or book one of the ranger-led tours at Cumberland Island National Seashore to explore historic sites along the coast.

Harriet Tubman Historical Park

Designated as a National Historical Park in 2017, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, preserves several important sites associated with the Underground Railroad conductor. Visitors can visit Tubman’s gravesite, tour the grounds of her former home and visit the church she attended for more than 20 years.

African Burial Ground National Monument

Located in Lower Manhattan, the African Burial Ground National Monument memorializes a site used as a burial ground for African slaves in the 1600s and 1700s. The grounds include ancestral African diaspora symbols and native shadblow trees.

National Civil Rights Museum

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is housed in part in the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. The museum features the room where King spent his final hours after the assassination but also details the history of slavery and civil rights in the United States.

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, is an interpretive museum and research center in Alabama featuring permanent and traveling exhibits that chronicle the history of the American civil rights movement.

The King Center

The 23-acre National Historical Site the King Center includes the largest repository of Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers, the historic home and birthplace of MLK as well as significant historical sites like Ebenezer Baptist Church. Visitors can pay their respects to Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King at the crypt at the King Center in Atlanta.

National Memorial for Peace and Justice

In addition to many stops on the US Civil Rights Trail, Montgomery, Alabama, is home to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice explores the country’s history with racial injustice. Opened in 2018, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice is the first national memorial to reflect on racial terror, from enslaved black people to segregation to the modern presumptions of guilt and gun violence facing African Americans. The powerful memorial features an installation of more than 800 steel pieces that each represent a county in the US where racial lynching took place.

The Legacy Museum

Just a few steps from the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the new Legacy Museum provides a comprehensive history of the US with a focus on the legacy of slavery. The museum itself sits on a site where enslaved Black people once labored in bondage. Prepare to have your mind expanded at a space that looks at the ongoing legacy of racism in America from slavery to mass incarceration.

Mitchelville Freedom Park

Hilton Head Island in South Carolina is home to a park that commemorates a community of freed slaves who created the first self-governed town, Mitchelville, for the formerly enslaved following the Civil War. The community was so notable, distinguished visitors like Harriet Tubman and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison visited Mitchelville and hundreds of freed slaves flocked to the community to live. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and serves to educate about the lives and quest for self-governance and autonomy of freed slaves in America. Hilton Head Island is also home to the Gullah community, which retained its West African heritage and culture during and after slavery. The community hosts a Gullah Heritage Tour and an annual Gullah Celebration every February.

The Edmund Pettus Bridge

Built in 1940 — and named after a former Confederate brigadier general — the Edmund Pettus Bridge is now a National Historic Landmark in Selma, Alabama later became the site of Bloody Sunday, the day in March 1965 when 600 civil rights marchers including Rep. John Lewis were attacked by police with billy clubs and tear gas.

ToursByLocals offers year-round tours of some of the highlights of American civil rights history including a 6 Hour Driving Tour or a 3 Day Foot Solider Sacred Grounds Tour. The local guide for those tours was an actual participant and organizer in the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches.