DuSable Black History Museum

{{Short description|African-American museum in Chicago, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Good article}} {{infobox museum | name = The DuSable | former_name = Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art<ref>[https://dusablemuseum.org/about-us/ "In 1961, with a few dedicated colleagues and a dream, the artist/educator/writer/activist Margaret Taylor Burroughs established our nation’s first independent museum celebrating Black culture. The Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art was inaugurated that very year in the Burroughs’ home on Chicago’s iconic South Side."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405071039/https://dusablemuseum.org/about-us/ |date=April 5, 2025 }} DuSable Museum.</ref> | image = The DuSable Museum.jpg | alt = Wide stairs lead to a mall in front of the one-story multi-winged museum. | established = February 16, 1961<br />(current location since 1973) | location = 740 East 56th Place<br />Chicago, Illinois<br />60637 U.S. | president = Perri L. Irmer | leader_type = Chair | leader = {{ubl|Carol Mosely Braun}} | type = History museum, Art museum | visitors = | map_type = United States Chicago Greater | coordinates = {{coord|41|47|31|N|87|36|26|W|type:landmark_region:US-IL|display=it}} | map_caption = Location within the Chicago metropolitan area | collection_size = | website = [http://www.dusablemuseum.org/ www.dusablemuseum.org] }} '''The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center''', formerly the '''DuSable Museum of African American History''', is a museum in Chicago, Illinois, United States, dedicated to the study and conservation of African-American history, culture, and art.

It was named after Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. It was founded in 1961 by Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, her husband Charles Burroughs, Gerard Lew, Eugene Feldman, Bernard Goss, Marian M. Hadley, and others.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rocksborough-Smith |first1=Ian |title=Margaret T.G. Burroughs and Black Public History in Cold War Chicago |journal=The Black Scholar |date=Fall 2011 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=26–42 |doi=10.5816/blackscholar.41.3.0026 |jstor=10.5816/blackscholar.41.3.0026 |s2cid=146200073}}</ref> They established the museum to celebrate black culture, at the time overlooked by most museums and academic establishments. The museum has an affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution.

== History ==

=== Founding === The DuSable Black History Museum was chartered on February 16, 1961.<ref name=TstDM>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50 |title=Oldest Black Museum Celebrates 32nd Anniversary |date=February 1993 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |page=50 |work=Ebony}}</ref> Its origins as the '''Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art''' began in the work of Margaret and Charles Burroughs, Bernard Goss, and others to correct the perceived omission of black history and culture in the education establishment.<ref>Simpson, Moira G. (1966). Making Representations - Museums in the Post-Colonial Era. London: Routledge. p. 97.</ref><ref name="mbbio">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=39 |title=Margaret Burroughs Biography |access-date=April 15, 2008 |publisher=The HistoryMakers |date=June 12, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102636/http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=39 |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="abtdus">{{cite web |url=http://www.dusablemuseum.org/g/about/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080418062532/http://www.dusablemuseum.org/g/about/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2008 |title=About DuSable Museum |access-date=April 15, 2008 |publisher=DuSable Museum of African American History}}</ref> The museum was originally located on the ground floor of the Burroughses' home at 3806 S. Michigan Avenue.<ref name="mbbio"/><ref name=CA>{{cite web |url=http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/illinois/chicago/attraction-detail.html?vid=1154654606497 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130235748/http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/illinois/chicago/attraction-detail.html?vid=1154654606497 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 30, 2013 |title=Chicago Attractions: DuSable Museum of African-American History |access-date=January 4, 2009 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name=CT>{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/arts-culture/culture/dusable-museum-of-african-american-history-PLCUL000143.topic |title=DuSable Museum of African-American History |access-date=January 4, 2009 |work=Chicago Tribune |archive-date=December 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218151115/http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/arts-culture/culture/dusable-museum-of-african-american-history-PLCUL000143.topic |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1968, the museum was renamed for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a fur trader of black African ancestry and the first non-Native-American permanent settler in Chicago.<ref name="chicuc">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Dickerson |first=Amina J. |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/398.html |title=DuSable Museum |access-date=April 15, 2008 |publisher=Chicago History Museum |year=2005 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Chicago |archive-date=May 2, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502062107/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/398.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/travel/practical-traveler-tracing-the-trail-of-black-history.html |title=Practical Traveler; Tracing the Trail Of Black History |access-date=January 27, 2009 |date=July 14, 1991 |work=The New York Times |author=Wade, Betsy |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109125211/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/travel/practical-traveler-tracing-the-trail-of-black-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 1960s, the museum and the South Side Community Art Center, which was located across the street, founded in 1941 by Taylor-Burroughs and dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt,<ref name=SSCAC>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/73.html |title=South Side Community Art Center |access-date=January 4, 2009 |publisher=Chicago History Museum |year=2005 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Chicago |archive-date=August 30, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830005658/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/73.html |url-status=live}}</ref> formed an African-American cultural corridor.<ref name="chicuc"/> This original museum site had previously been a social club <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=13028&counter=135 |title=City of Chicago {{!}} Landmarks web – Landmark Details – Griffiths-Burroughs House |access-date=March 5, 2013 |archive-date=October 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009011900/http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=13028&counter=135 |url-status=live}}</ref> and boarding house for African-American railroad workers and is now listed as a Chicago Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="chicuc"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp |title=National Register of Historic Places-Griffiths, John W., Mansion |access-date=February 14, 2021 |archive-date=July 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725123211/http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The DuSable Black History Museum quickly filled a void caused by limited cultural resources then available to African Americans in Chicago. It became an educational resource for African-American history and culture and a focal point in Chicago for black social activism. The museum has hosted political fundraisers, community festivals, and various events serving the black community. The museum's model has been emulated in numerous other cities around the country, including Boston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.<ref name="chicuc"/>

=== Expansion === In 1973, the Chicago Park District donated the usage of a park administration building in Washington Park as the site for the museum.<ref name="abtdus"/><ref name=CA/> The current location once served as a lockup facility for the Chicago Police Department.<ref name=CA/> In 1993, the museum expanded with the addition of a new wing named in honor of the late Mayor Harold Washington,<ref name="abtdus"/> the first African-American mayor of Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/26/obituaries/chicago-s-mayor-washington-dies-after-a-heart-attack-in-his-office.html |title=Chicago's Mayor Washington Dies After a Heart Attack in His Office |access-date=January 27, 2009 |date=November 26, 1987 |work=The New York Times |author=Johnson, Dirk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215174909/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DC1630F935A15752C1A961948260 |archive-date=February 15, 2009}}</ref> In 2004, the original building became a contributing building to the Washington Park United States Registered Historic District which is a National Register of Historic Places listing.<ref name=NRoHPRFWP>{{cite web |url=http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis/PDFs/223353.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620212646/http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis/PDFs/223353.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 20, 2009 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Washington Park |access-date=April 1, 2009 |date=July 2, 2004 |publisher=United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service |author=Bachrach, Julia Sniderman}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historicdistricts.com/IL/Cook/districts.html |title=Illinois – Cook County – Historic Districts |access-date=April 1, 2009 |publisher=National Register of Historic Places |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516072057/http://www.historicdistricts.com/IL/Cook/districts.html |archive-date=May 16, 2008}}</ref>

The DuSable Black History Museum is the oldest, and—before the founding of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016—the largest caretaker of African-American culture in the United States. Over its long history, it has expanded as necessary to reflect the increased interest in black culture.<ref name="newlook">{{cite web |last=Rotenberk |first=Lori |url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB37396DDDA7995&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420 |title=DuSable Museum to get new look |access-date=January 27, 2009 |date=February 4, 1992 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |publisher=Sun-Times Media Group |archive-date=June 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250603142515/https://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB37396DDDA7995&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420 |url-status=live }}</ref> This willingness to adapt has allowed it to survive while other museums faltered due to a weakening economy and decreased public support.<ref name="suc">{{cite web |last=Jackson |first=Cheryl V. |url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10831ED67B108B9E&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420 |title=DuSable plans expansion as others falter |access-date=January 27, 2009 |date=February 1, 2005 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |publisher=Sun-Times Media Group}}</ref> The museum was the eighth one located on Park District land.<ref name="abtdus"/> Although it focuses on exhibiting African-American culture, it is one of several Chicago museums that celebrates Chicago's ethnic and cultural heritage.<ref>{{cite web |last=Schmidt |first=William E. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/travel/what-s-doing-in-chicago.html?pagewanted=2 |title=What's Doing In; Chicago |access-date=January 4, 2009 |date=November 4, 1990 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=May 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525191844/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/travel/what-s-doing-in-chicago.html?pagewanted=2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Antoinette Wright, director of the DuSable Black History Museum, has said that African-American art has grown out of a need for the culture to preserve its history orally and in art due to historical obstacles to other forms of documentation. She also believes that the museum serves as a motivational tool for members of a culture that has experienced extensive negativity.<ref name=AiA>{{cite web |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/22/arts/arts-in-america-a-struggle-to-be-seen.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130151857/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EEDC1439F931A15751C0A9679C8B63 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 30, 2013 |title=Arts in America; A Struggle to Be Seen |access-date=January 4, 2009 |date=February 22, 2001 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> In the 1980s, African-American museums such as the DuSable endured the controversy of whether negative aspects of the cultural history should be memorialized.<ref>{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Lena |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/08/garden/black-memorabilia-the-pride-and-the-pain.html |title=Black Memorabilia: The Pride and the Pain |access-date=January 4, 2009 |date=December 8, 1988 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=September 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928010027/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/08/garden/black-memorabilia-the-pride-and-the-pain.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the 1990s, the African-American genre of museum began to flourish despite financial difficulties.<ref name=AiA/> In 2016, the museum formed an affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160325/NEWS07/160329880/dusable-museum-named-as-smithsonian-institution-affiliate |title=DuSable Museum named as Smithsonian Institution affiliate |agency=Associated Press |date=March 25, 2016 |work=Crain's Chicago Business |access-date=March 27, 2016 |archive-date=February 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214101633/https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160325/NEWS07/160329880/dusable-museum-named-as-smithsonian-institution-affiliate |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Collection == [[Image:20070325 DuSable Museum Harold Washington Wing.JPG|alt=Large, rectangular, concrete structure, with windows on the ground floor|thumb|200px|The Harold Washington Wing]] The new wing contains a permanent exhibit on Washington with memorabilia, personal effects and surveys highlights of his political career.<ref name=CA/> The museum also serves as the city's primary memorial to du Sable.<ref name="abtdus"/> Highlights of its collection include the desk of activist Ida B. Wells, the violin of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar,<ref>{{cite web |last=Wade |first=Betsy |author-link=Betsy Wade |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/travel/practical-traveler-tracing-the-trail-of-black-history.html%26sec%3D%26spon%3D%26pagewanted%3D2 |title=Practical Traveler; Tracing the Trail Of Black History |access-date=January 4, 2009 |date=July 14, 1991 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=July 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729111852/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/travel/practical-traveler-tracing-the-trail-of-black-history.html%26sec%3D%26spon%3D%26pagewanted%3D2 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Charles Dawson Papers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Schulman |first=Daniel |url=http://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-charles-dawson |title=Design Journeys: Charles Dawson |access-date=July 1, 2017 |date=September 8, 2008 |work=AIGA |archive-date=February 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214101607/https://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-charles-dawson |url-status=live}}</ref>

The museum has a collection of 13,000 artifacts, books, photographs, art objects, and memorabilia.<ref name=CA/> The DuSable collection has come largely from private gifts. It has United States slavery-era relics, nineteenth- and twentieth-century artifacts, and archival materials, including the diaries of sea explorer Captain Harry Dean. The DuSable collection includes works from scholar W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist St. Clair Drake, and poet Langston Hughes. The African-American art collection contains selections from the South Side Community Art Center students Charles White, Richard Hunt,<ref name="Richard Hunt Monograph">{{cite book |last1=Introduction by Courtney J. Martin. Text by John Yau, Jordan Carter, LeRonn Brooks. Interview by Adrienne Childs. |title=Richard Hunt |date=2022 |publisher=Gregory R. Miller & Co. |isbn=9781941366448 |url=https://www.artbook.com/9781941366448.html |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |access-date=May 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625074244/https://www.artbook.com/9781941366448.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Archibald Motley, Jr., Gus Nall, Charles Sebree, and Marion Perkins, as well as numerous New Deal Works Progress Administration period and 1960s Black Arts Movement works. The museum also owns prints and drawings by Henry O. Tanner, Richmond Barthé, and Romare Bearden, and has an extensive collection of books and records pertaining to African and African-American history and culture.<ref name="chicuc"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civilwarinart.org/items/show/142 |title=Lincoln Speaks to Freedmen on the Steps of the Capital at Richmond |access-date=April 15, 2016 |website=CivilWarinArt.org |archive-date=March 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327214948/http://www.civilwarinart.org/items/show/142 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Facilities == The original north entrance contains the main lobby of the museum and features the Thomas Miller mosaics, which honor the institution's founders. The building was designed {{Circa|1915}} by D.H. Burnham and Company to serve as the South Park Administration Building in Washington Park on the city's South Side.<ref name="abtdus"/> The new wing is {{convert|25000|sqft|m2}}. The museum has a 466-seat auditorium, which is part of the new wing, that hosts community-related events, such as a jazz and blues music series, poetry readings, film screenings, and other cultural events. The museum also has a gift shop and a research library.<ref name=AiA/> The museum's funding is partially dependent upon a Chicago Park District tax levy.<ref name="chicuc"/>

After the 1993 expansion of the new wing, the museum contained {{convert|50000|sqft|m2}} of exhibition space. The $4 million expansion was funded by a $2 million matching funds grant from city and state officials.<ref name=TstDM/> In addition, the museum has been working on preserving and expanding facilities in a nearby architecturally significant roundhouse.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://archpaper.com/2017/12/chicagos-dusable-museum-roundhouse/ |title=Chicago's DuSable Museum converts a horse stable into a powerful space |last=Messner |first=Matthew |date=December 29, 2018 |work=Architects Newspaper |access-date=January 16, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=January 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117012046/https://archpaper.com/2017/12/chicagos-dusable-museum-roundhouse/ |url-status=live }}</ref> <!-- The museum is laid out on three levels. The entry level contains an exhibition on the different regions of Africa and displays African artwork and clothing. Also on this level are mosaics of Chicago's African-American history, a bust of Du Sable and model of his trading post, a small auditorium and gift shop.

The upper level is focused on the Civil Rights Movement, beginning with Plessy v. Ferguson and centered on activities of the movement in Chicago. This level also contains a replica of Harold Washington's office on the fifth floor of Chicago City Hall with artifacts of his tenure as mayor.

The lower level hosts a permanent exhibit of art created by African Americans; an area for traveling or temporary exhibits; and a 500-seat theater, used for plays, lectures, and concerts.-->

==Key people== * Carol Moseley Braun, Board Chair (April 2025 - )<ref>The Chicago Defender (April 8, 2025). [https://chicagodefender.com/carol-moseley-braun-named-board-chair-of-dusable-black-history-museum/ Carol Moseley Braun Named Board Chair of DuSable Black History Museum.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250408230524/https://chicagodefender.com/carol-moseley-braun-named-board-chair-of-dusable-black-history-museum/ |date=April 8, 2025 }}</ref> * Perri L. Irmer, President and CEO (September 2015 - )<ref>[https://www.thechicagonetwork.org/member/perri-irmer/ Perri Irmer.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323170453/https://www.thechicagonetwork.org/member/perri-irmer/ |date=March 23, 2025 }} The Chicago Network.</ref>

== References == {{reflist|33em}}

== External links == {{commons category|DuSable Museum of African American History}} * {{official website|http://www.dusablemuseum.org/}} * [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/dusable-museum-of-african-american-history DuSable Museum of African American History on Google Cultural Institute] * {{cite web |title=DuSable Museum of African American History: Filling your mind, not your day |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-0918-museum-101-dusable-20140917-story.html#page=1 |author=Johnson, Steve |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=September 17, 2014 |access-date=September 18, 2014}}

{{Museums in Chicago}} {{Washington Park, Chicago}} {{Ethnicity in Chicago, Illinois}} {{Midwestern U.S. historical societies}}{{Authority control}}

Category:Museums in Chicago Category:African-American museums in Illinois Category:African-American history in Chicago Category:South Side, Chicago Category:Museums established in 1961 Category:1961 establishments in Illinois Category:Cultural centers in Chicago Category:Smithsonian Institution affiliates Category:Cultural institutions and organizations in Chicago Category:Heritage organizations in Illinois