DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center

Founded in 1961, the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (DuSable Museum) is a Chicago community institution and the first non-profit museum dedicated to the collection, documentation, preservation, study, and dissemination of the history and culture of Africans and African Americans in the United States. With this award, the DuSable Museum and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago jointly commission a study to assess the feasibility of creating a Chicago Archival Education Center (CAEC) in the Washington Park community area on Chicago’s South Side. The vision of the CAEC is to house and exhibit several Chicago-related archives, including a portion of the Johnson Publishing Company Archive and its iconic magazines, Ebony and Jet. This award supports the DuSable Museum’s contribution to the cost of the feasibility study.

The DuSable Museum of African American History (Museum) collects, preserves, interprets, and disseminates the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent. It is the oldest independent African American history museum in the country, founded in 1961. The Museum is located on Chicago Park District land on the city’s south side. It presents permanent and traveling exhibitions, maintains an archive, and provides education and outreach programs at the Museum, in schools, and in communities. This award recommends renewed general operating support to the Museum as it works to strengthen its infrastructure and provide public programs and exhibitions.

The DuSable Museum of African-American History is the oldest and longest operating independent museum in the country devoted entirely to the collection, documentation, preservation, study, and dissemination of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent. The Museum, which is located on Chicago Park District land on the city’s south side, presents permanent and traveling exhibitions, maintains a large archive, and provides education and outreach programs at the Museum, in schools, and in communities. It serves more than 100,000 visitors each year.  

This exchange connects American and Dutch audiences through a play that highlights the lives of Anne Frank and Emmett Till, and the common challenge of racial injustice faced by communities across the globe. DuSable produced this play in 2015. DuSable and its partners in the Netherlands (where the Anne Frank house is located) present the play as an opportunity for local communities to examine the ways in which racial intolerance have affected the world over time by utilizing the historical connections highlighted in the play. Award funds support direct project expenses: travel, performance, marketing and communication, educational programming costs. This is the DuSable Museum’s first International Connections Fund award.

The DuSable Museum (Museum) collects, preserves, interprets, and disseminates the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent. It is the oldest independent African American history museum in the country, founded in 1961. The Museum, which is located on Chicago Park District land on the city’s south side, presents permanent and traveling exhibitions, maintains a large archive, and provides education and outreach programs at the Museum, in schools, and in communities. It serves more than 100,000 visitors each year. This grant supports critical operational needs such as exhibit creation, education programs, outreach activities, and facility and staffing expenses.

The DuSable Museum, founded in 1962, is the oldest independent African American history museum in the country. DuSable is dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation and dissemination of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent. The Museum presents permanent and traveling exhibitions, maintains a large archive, and provides education programs at the museum and in schools and community venues. It is Chicago’s largest African American arts organization and the only museum in Chicago that serves a primarily African American audience. This grant provides renewed general operating support.