African-American Heritage and Culture – Museums in Maryland

Maryland served as an integral part of the underground railroad, and was one of the places that many slaves fled to and settled in. These African-American museums have devoted themselves to keeping a chronicle of the history of African-Americans in America.

Baltimore Metro Area
The Howard County Center for African-American Culture, has an exhaustive collection of artifacts and information about the African-American contribution to Howard county, Maryland. The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum in Baltimore, MD, celebrates the life and contributions of Benjamin Banneker. He is most famous for designing Washington D.C. The Banneker-Douglass Museum offers cultural presentations, exhibits, artifacts and photos. It is a wonderful repository of numerous artifacts that detail the lives of African-Americans. The James E. Lewis Museum of Art is located at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, and was the first place to showcase African-American art exclusively. It has a gallery of African-American war veterans that preserves the history of their contributions to the armed forces. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History & Culture offers rotating exhibits of African-American history, and cultural events. The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum has impressive wax figures of people that played a significant role in African-American history. There is also a vivid exhibit that makes the horrors of slavery come alive.

Eastern Shore
The Charles H Chipman Cultural Center in Salisbury, Maryland has artifacts, oral history tapes, and offers visual and performing arts. The Drayden African-American Schoolhouse in Drayden, MD (open to the public by appointment only) is an original schoolhouse that is currently being preserved as a part of the St. Mary’s county’s historic collection.

American history is intricately intertwined with the African-American story. African-American museums help reiterate this fact and show the marvelous contributions that African-Americans have made to help shape the fabric of the society that we live in today. A wonderful showcase of this fact is found on the Black Inventor Online Museum, a tribute to black inventors and their inventions. It is continually growing as more facts are added everyday.