National Afro-American Museum

The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center is a 20 minute drive from downtown Dayton, Ohio, and is located 1 mile west of State Route 42 North, adjacent to Central State University. The Center comprises just under 50,000 sq. ft. of space, including administrative offices in the Carnegie library. The Great Hall in the museum is 8,000 square feet, and the galleries that comprise the exhibition space each measure some 5,200 square feet.

The mission of the Center is to educate the public about African American history and culture from the African origins to the present by collecting, preserving, and interpreting material evidence of the Black experience. To achieve these goals, the Center is divided into several divisions : Curatorial/Exhibitions; Education; Library/Manuscript-Archives; Support Services/Marketing and Development; and Administration. Programs include major research and publication activities, visiting scholars, oral and visual history, and adult and children's educational activities. There are on-going exhibitions, work-shops, seminars, lectures, and special performances.

The museum's permanent exhibition is titled, From Victory To Freedom: Afro-American Life in the 1950s. Exploring African American experiences in America's history from 1945 with the ending of World War II, to 1965 with passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1964, this exhibition chronicles the trends, struggles, and social changes that occurred within this time period. This crucial period in American history is detailed not only through photographs and artifacts, but also through life-sized scenes and settings depicting "typical" lifestyles and activities in the 50s. Examples of this typical 50s lifestyle include a barber shop, a beauty salon, and a church interior complete with pews, pulpit, and choir stand. These exhibits are made real to the visitor through the accompaniment of recorded speaking voices and gospel music.

Interspersed between these settings are display cases containing clothes, jewelry, consumer products, sports equipment, and other artifacts from the 50s. Located in the very center of the exhibition is a small theater which shows the award winning Music As a Metaphor, a 27-minute video presentation which traces the origins of African American music from its roots in Africa to period music of the 1950s. Gospel, jazz, bebop, classical, and protest music are all explored, as are artists such as Paul Robeson, Fats Domino, Dizzy Gillespie and others.

The gallery housing the 50s exhibition is surrounded by a 22-foot-high photomural depicting various aspects of American life of the era. The compelling photomontage mural is arranged in sections corresponding to the different settings in the museum (i.e., family life, education, community and social interactions, entertainment and sports), and provides an impressive backdrop for the remainder of the exhibit. Outside the doors of the museum's permanent collection visitors will discover constantly changing display cases whose contents may include: dolls, books, clothing, musical instruments, and other artifacts which reveal the depth and influence of African American history and culture.

About every 8-10 weeks the museum houses a temporary exhibition. In 1993 the museum mounted and organized a major exhibition of African American craft art entitled Uncommon Beauty in Common Objects: the Legacy of African American Craft Art. The Center has housed such traveling exhibits as The Real McCoy: Afro-American Inventors and Inventions; Cloth of the Ashanti Kings; Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews, and currently the Museum is planning major exhibitions on African American Dance and Dayton Funk Music, slated to open in 1999 and 1998 respectively.

The Center is available for use by civic and non-profit organizations for receptions, dinners, and meetings. Nominal fees apply.