Alexandria Black History Museum

The mission of the Black History Museum is to enrich the lives of Alexandria's residents and visitors, to foster tolerance and understanding among all cultures and to stimulate appreciation of the diversity of the African American experience. The institutional complex is composed of the Museum, the Watson Reading Room, and the Alexandria African American Heritage Park.

• Alexandria Black History Museum: The Museum, devoted to exhibiting local and regional history, incorporates the Robert H. Robinson Library as one of two exhibition galleries. The Robert H. Robinson Library was originally constructed in 1940 following a sit-in at the segregated Alexandria Library.
• Watson Reading Room: The Reading Room, established in 1995, provides an environment for learning about the diversity of African American cultural traditions.
• African American Heritage Park: A nine-acre green space and wetland, the Park offers a place for celebration, commemoration and quiet reflection.

Current News and Information

• Exhibit extended -The Alexandria Black History Museum’s exhibition, Our Alexandria: African American Dollhouses by Sharon J. Frazier and Linwood M. Smith,  has been extended by popular demand until July 21, 2012.  The exhibition features more than a dozen buildings and rooms – some inspired by real places in Alexandria – in miniature.
• Movies with a Mission Film Series - The museum offers free movies on the second Saturday of the month that explore themes relating to Africa and the African Diaspora.

June 9 – “Banished:  An Investigation into Ethnic Cleansing in Post-Reconstruction America”

 

Additional Information

• National Trust Visits Museum -- As part of its efforts to document Contraband heritage sites, the National Trust for Historic Preservation  visited Alexandria and interviewed Audrey Davis, Assistant Director and Curator of the Alexandria Black History Museum, and local historian Lillian Patterson. Check out the Preservation Nation blog and video now and learn about Alexandria's Contraband history!

• Walking Tour Brochure -- Download A Remarkable Journey: A Guide to Alexandria’s African American History.

• Past Exhibit -- Style and Identity: Black Alexandria in the 1970s , the popular exhibition of portraits by Horace Day, is now closed but the catalog is still available. Purchase a copy at the Alexandria Black History Museum, The Lyceum, and the History Center and Museum Store, or download a PDF version for free.

• Watch a video clip -- on The Alexandria Black History Museum, from WETA’s Around Town (2007).