The African American Museum in Philadelphia is the first institution built by a major United Stat Our doors are open for your enjoyment and enlightenment.
The African American Museum in Philadelphia is the first institution built by a major United States city to house and interpret the life and work of African Americans. Visit us and experience the richness and vibrancy of African American heritage and culture come alive in four magnificent exhibition galleries filled with exciting history and fascinating art.
Operating as usual
Save the date and join AAMP as we welcome Dr. Bernice A. King (Be A King to Philadelphia for our Black History Month Signature Speaker Series!
Become or renew your AAMP membership TODAY to be eligible for early bird access to this groundbreaking event! Learn more about AAMP membership at aampmuseum.org/membership
Join us at AAMP every third Thursday at noon for Art Break. Art Break is a monthly program that encourages visitors to learn more about the content of our exhibitions by engaging in informal discussions with our curatorial staff and guest speakers. This month Assistant Curator, Zindzi Harley (), and Program Coordinator, Morgan Lloyd () will explore Kwanzaa through artworks in our latest exhibition Vision & Spirit: African American Art | Works from the Bank of America Collection.
Do you love History & Culture? Do you wish to contribute the gift of your time and talent?
Sign up to become an AAMP Volunteer or Docent!
AAMP needs assistance throughout the year in support of our membership initiatives, our education and public programs, as well as exhibit openings.
Applications in our bio!
KWANZAA UPDATE:
Due to overwhelming support by vendor participants, we are now at capacity. Vendor applications are now closed.
Thank you to everyone who submitted!
Today at the museum, join us for a special screening and talk back! This event is complimentary with museum admission so that you may also enjoy our current exhibition, “Vision & Spirit,African American Art,Works from the Bank of America Collection” and our permanent exhibition,”Audacious Freedom”. It may be chilly out, but this is the perfect way to warm up your Sunday afternoon plans! See you there! Visit our website www.aampmuseum.org for more details!
Stop by our Care& Collage workshop at the museum, then meet us the AAMP table at this beautiful powerful and uplifting event by our friends WURD Radio] This looks like it’s going to be a great time!
WURD Radio] with .repost
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Join WURD on Saturday, Dec 10 from 11AM-4PM for the 2022 Empowerment Experience – a time at the end of the year to reflect, refresh, and re-engerize for the new year. This year's event is also the kickoff to a yearlong celebration of WURD's 20th anniversary!
The 2022 Empowerment experience is the first time since the onset of the pandemic that we are holding this signature event live and in person! Please mark your calendar for a day that has something for everyone including:
✅Conscious and ethical shopping
✅Healing through mindfulness and health screenings
✅Motivating and empowering the body and soul
✅Job resources
✅Eating to nourish
✅Moving and grooving at an old school dance party, and more!
REGISTER NOW by visiting the link in our bio. We can’t wait to see you there!
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KWANZAA MARKETPLACE UPDATE:
There are just a few spots left for our Kwanzaa Marketplace on 12/29. Apply today!
All selected vendors will be notified no later than December 20th. Final selections are at the discretion of the museum. Space is limited.
Application form is in our linktree
Thank you to everyone who has submitted!
Join us at AAMP every third Thursday at noon for Art Break. Art Break is a monthly program that encourages visitors to learn more about the content of our exhibitions by engaging in informal discussions with our curatorial staff and guest speakers. This month Assistant Curator, Zindzi Harley (), and Program Coordinator, Morgan Lloyd () will dive into our latest exhibition Vision & Spirit: African American Art | Works from the Bank of America Collection through the lens of “Exploring the Black Renaissance.” We welcome guest speaker Dr. Anyabwile Love, () who will share the impact of free jazz artists, John & Alice Coltrane through the photography of Chuck Stewart who documented intimate moments of their apprenticeship and community in Philadelphia.
In case you missed it.... PHLCouncil approved City of Philadelphia Government $3M to AAMP as part of a historic investment to the city's arts & culture sector!
We are full of gratitude and excitement to be a part of this announcement, and look forward to continuing to create transformative experiences that celebrate and appreciate the history and legacy of African Americans locally and nationally.
Learn more via WHYY News:
City Hall’s midyear budget transfer pumps an unexpected surplus of public funds into the arts sector.
On the fourth day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate the principle of Ujamaa: Cooperative Economics, which means "to build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together."
Submit your form today to join us as a vendor at AAMP's Kwanzaa night market, "Market & Making," on Thursday, December 29, from 4:30 to 8:30 pm.
All vendor form submissions are due by December 15. All selected vendors will be notified no later than December 20. Final selections are at the discretion of the Museum. Space is limited.
Submit your form today at https://bit.ly/KwanzaaVendor22
The African American Museum in Philadelphia invites you to celebrate Kwanzaa with us!
Our celebration this year is filled with rich family-friendly virtual and in-person activities.
Activities include: arts and crafts, interactive workshops, discussions, a virtual cooking class, yoga & meditation, griots, games, marketplace, community resources, poetry & open mic, drums, music, a paint party, vision boarding, a gallery walk, and the sharing of a commissioned poem written for the current exhibition “Vision & Spirit: African American Art, Works from the Bank of America”.
See the full line up and RSVP today in our in our bio or at aampmuseum.org/calendar
# Kwanzaa
![Today Creative Philadelphia] opened the Call for Artists in an effort to commission the most-qualified and skilled artis...](https://img5.gluseum.com/357/654/519288583576548.jpg)
Today Creative Philadelphia] opened the Call for Artists in an effort to commission the most-qualified and skilled artist to design a permanent Harriet Tubman statue. This is the next step in the process to install a statue on the Northeast apron of City Hall that will celebrate Harriet Tubman’s life, legacy, and contributions to our nation’s history. It will also be the first statue of an African American historic female figure in the City’s public art collection.
Learn more -> Link in Creative Philadelphia] bio
Care & Collage Workshop
December 10, 2022
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Jack T. Franklin Auditorium
Join us at the African American Museum in Philadelphia on December 10th in the Jack T. Franklin Auditorium from 12:00- 1:30 pm for an art-based workshop with Collage artist, Doriana Diaz (). Learn more about the Black Healthcare Studies exhibition from the artist and Assistant Curator, Zindzi Harley () while participating in a meditative collaging activity.
Day 7: Mumu Fresh ()
Maimouna Youssef, known as Mumu Fresh, is of Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee heritage. You may recognize her as a Grammy-Nominated, Indigenous Music award-winning, Musical Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, elected governor of The DC Chapter of The Recording Academy & an Ambassador of The Black Music Collective.
Youssef was born in Baltimore but moved to Philadelphia when she was ten. Partially homeschooled by her theatrical parents, she learned how to handle a mic, practice her nation's traditional medicines, and attend powwows. Youssef grew up singing traditional Native American, Jazz, and Gospel music alongside her 14 siblings.
She attended the prestigious Duke Ellington High School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., where she further honed her craft and sharpened her artistic purpose. Her style of music is socially-conscious mixed with spirituality.
Mumu often plays a supporting vocalist role for artists like The Roots, Tobe Nwigwe, Erykah Badu, Common, Supaman, and many other big names in music.
Mumu Fresh has released 2 solo L.P.s, 2 group L.P.s, 1 solo E.P.s, 1 Mixtape, and countless singles and features with super producers such as Dj Jazzy Jeff, Salaam Remi, D.J. Dummy & 9th Wonder. Mumu Fresh's music and philanthropic endeavors have been featured in publications such as Variety, Ebony, Essence, BET & more.
Thank you for joining us for AAMP's Afro-Indigenous Heritage month series

Richenda Rhoden
Outside of our Museum is a stunning statue named Nesaika; it has been in front of AAMP since our founding day on June 19, 1976. The Artist John Rhoden was a phenomenal sculptor, but today, we would like to uplift the legacy of his wife, artist Richenda Rhoden.
Richenda Rhoden was born in Aberdeen, Washington State, on April 4, 1917. Her father was of the Cherokee Nation, and her mother was from Menominee. Richenda was given the Menominee name Paytoemahtamo which means great woman.
Richenda enrolled in Columbia University, where she studied Asian Art. It was at Columbia where Richenda met John Rhoden. The two would begin building a long life together. While John was studying at the American Academy in Rome in 1954, the two married, and she would be the muse for several of Rhoden’s pieces.
Richenda, like her husband, dedicated herself to art and the community. Richenda was a painter and taught painting at Stuyvesant High School in the evenings as a part of their adult programming. Her entire life, she welcomed the community into her home. The Rhoden's regularly hosted holiday parties, community events, and house tours.
Images and facts about of Richenda Rhoden sourced from PAFA’s John Rhoden Digital Archives
Join us tomorrow for Brokering Peace: The House of Umoja & a Safer Philadelphia
The House of Umoja’s institutional impact can be summarized by those who know it in just two words: peace brokers.
In the 1970s, when gangs were waging deadly wars across the city, The House of Umoja opened its doors to at-risk youth and eventually created a “Boystown,” which stretched across nearly two dozen properties and, over the years, served 3,000 boys. One of its most notable efforts was the Imani Peace Pact of 1974, a truce among local gangs.
Today, Philadelphia is charting homicide rates that dwarf those of the 1970s, and officials and residents are searching for solutions to stop the bloodshed.
WHYY, AAMP & Love Now Media invite you to preview a forthcoming documentary, “Falaka Fattah & The House of Umoja,” and engage in a Community Conversation about the lessons learned at "Boystown” and how to apply them to alleviate today’s public safety crisis. This evening will feature a sneak peek viewing of a documentary on the House of Umoja and a conversation featuring two generations of black men and boys who experienced the institution.
Join us at on Wednesday, November 30, from 6:30 - 8:30 PM.
Link in bio to register.
Panelists Include are:
Christopher “Flood the Dummer” Norris (), WHYY’s Managing Editor for Community & Engagement
Sammy Caiola, WHYY’s Gun Violence Prevention Reporter ()
Panel:
Philadelphia City Councilman Curtis Jones, 4th District, Chair of the Appropriations Committee ()
Public safety advocate Jamal Johnson, Founder of Stop Killing Us ()
Hakim Tendi, Umoja member
Hameen Jackson, Umoja member (youth)
Jos Duncan-Asè, Founder, Love Now Media/Filmmaker ()
When you become a member at , you receive free entry for every visit and an exclusive invitation to our exclusive events. We host special VIP Exhibition Openings for each new exhibit we bring to the museum. Members get first access to entry to each new exhibit. In addition, you will get to meet with our curators and learn more about the collection.
Our most recent exhibit was for the Vision & Spirit collection. It is composed of more than 100 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and mixed media works by 48 artists born in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Curated in partnership with the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture and Bank of America, the exhibition highlights key aspects of these artists’ lives, as well as the important objects they created.
This , become a member today to join our legacy membership program, which will be offered until December 5. To become a member, go to our website https://www.aampmuseum.org/membership.html
When you become a member at , you not only receive free entry for every visit but you are also invited to our exclusive events. For Juneteenth, we do it big with live musical performances, food, and dancing at our annual Block Party. Special guest lectures offered to members first deepen your connection to Juneteenth and provide further insight into the significance of this day.
This , become a member today to join our legacy membership program, which will be offered until December 5. To become a member, go to our website https://www.aampmuseum.org/membership.html
What is better than becoming a member? Becoming a member with a friend. Tag your friends in the comments so they can also be a part of all the happenings here at the African American Museum.
Dr. Kyle T. Mays
(Saginaw Chippewa)
Dr. Kyle T. Mays is an Afro-Indigenous writer and scholar of US history, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary popular culture. He is an Associate Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America (SUNY Press, 2018), An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (Beacon Press, 2021), and City of Dispossessions: Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, and the Creation of Modern Detroit (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). He contributed a chapter, “Blackness and Indigeneity” to the New York Times bestseller, 400 Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, Keisha Blain and Ibram Kendi (eds.), (New York: Random House, 2021).
Mays’ work broadly explores three questions. What is the relationship between blackness and indigeneity? How does dispossession in cities shape the lives of Black and Indigenous peoples? And finally, how can we imagine and put into praxis a world in the aftermath of settler colonialism and white supremacy?
To Learn more about Dr. Kyle T. May’s writings, please visit his website www.kyle-mays.com
When you become a member at , you receive free entry for every visit and an exclusive invitation to our exclusive events.
During Black History Month, as a special thank you, members get special perks during our Signature Speaker Series. This year of panelists is incredible and something that you will not want to miss.
This , become a member today to join our legacy membership program, which will be offered until December 5.
For those of you who joined us for Black History Month last year, let us know in the comments what was your personal highlight.
When you become a member at , not only do you receive free entry for every visit, but you also get invited to our exclusive events. For Martin Luther King Weekend, members will get special access to exclusive content. Honor Dr. King’s life and legacy.
This , become a today to join our legacy membership program, which will be offered until December 5. Purchase your membership here.
Join us tomorrow for Brokering Peace: The House of Umoja & a Safer Philadelphia
The House of Umoja’s institutional impact can be summarized by those who know it in just two words: peace brokers.
In the 1970s, when gangs were waging deadly wars across the city, The House of Umoja opened its doors to at-risk youth and eventually created a “Boystown,” which stretched across nearly two dozen properties and, over the years, served 3,000 boys. One of its most notable efforts was the Imani Peace Pact of 1974, a truce among local gangs.
Today, Philadelphia is charting homicide rates that dwarf those of the 1970s, and officials and residents are searching for solutions to stop the bloodshed.
WHYY, AAMP & Love Now Media invite you to preview a forthcoming documentary, “Falaka Fattah & The House of Umoja,” and engage in a Community Conversation about the lessons learned at "Boystown” and how to apply them to alleviate today’s public safety crisis. This evening will feature a sneak peek viewing of a documentary on the House of Umoja and a conversation featuring two generations of black men and boys who experienced the institution.
Join us at on Wednesday, November 30, from 6:30 - 8:30 PM.
Link in bio to register.
Panelists Include are:
Christopher “Flood the Dummer” Norris (), WHYY’s Managing Editor for Community & Engagement
Sammy Caiola, WHYY’s Gun Violence Prevention Reporter ()
Panel:
Philadelphia City Councilman Curtis Jones, 4th District, Chair of the Appropriations Committee ()
Public safety advocate Jamal Johnson, Founder of Stop Killing Us ()
Hakim Tendi, Umoja member
Hameen Jackson, Umoja member (youth)
Jos Duncan-Asè, Founder, Love Now Media/Filmmaker ()
Kali Ko Reis “K.O. Mennquinonoag”
(Cape Verdean + Seaconke,Nipmuc, Cherokee)
Over the last 3 days, we’ve enjoyed sharing some amazing Afro-Indigenous histories. Today, we would like to introduce you to someone who is making history:
Kali Ko Reis is a Two-Spirit, professional boxer and actor of Cape Verdean ancestry, descending from the Seaconke Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Cherokee nations.
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Reis was active in her formative years, playing basketball, volleyball, softball and competing in powwows. At 14, she enrolled in boxing class; this new passion would later develop into a successful amateur career.
She incorporated her Native name, 'Mequinonoag' (meaning 'many feathers' or 'many talents'), into her boxing nickname, 'K.O. Mequinonoag. She is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBA female light welterweight title since 2020, the WBO and IBO female light welterweight titles since 2021, and the WBC female middleweight title in 2016.
Reis, an activist for the Missing Murder
ed Indigenous Women and Girls movement (MMIWG), recently co-wrote and starred in the movie 'Catch the Fair One' which discussed the MMIWG crisis. Her film debut resulted in an Award for Best Actress from the Newport Beach film festival and a nomination for Best Female lead at the 387th Independent Spirit Awards.
We look forward to seeing Reis in the upcoming film 'Black Flies' and on season four of 'True Detective: Dark Country'!
701 Arch Street
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"Di Nada," an exhibit by local printmaker Gilberto Wilson, is now on display in the Community Corridor at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia! AAMP and Einstein Health have partnered to bring art with connections to Philadelphia to the Community Corridor for staff, patients, and the community to enjoy. “Di Nada,” which pays homage to Wilson’s multicultural and multilingual ancestry, will be the first exhibit at Einstein to feature a contemporary artist who lives and works in Philadelphia. In "Di Nada," Wilson uses collage-like compositions and fuses photography and printmaking to create a visual language that tells the stories of our nostalgic past and the present urban landscape we call home. The exhibit will be on display through June. The Community Corridor is located in the lobby of the Tower Building on the Einstein Medical Center campus at 5501 Old York Road, Philadelphia, PA 19141.
Check out this behind the scenes sneak peak of our newest exhibition - Derrick Adams: Sanctuary. Our curatorial team has been hard at working setting up this exciting new exhibition inspired by “The Negro Motorist Green Book.” The exhibition opens today, so book your visit to the Museum!
In celebration of #HarrietTubmanDay, our assistant curator, Zindzi Harley, and gallery guide, Morgan Lloyd, shared their reflections on Harriet Tubman’s legacy and the importance of seeing Tubman memorialized with a statue at City Hall.
We’re closing out our Mission Matters video series with Leslie Patterson-Tyler, AAMP Marketing Committee member and Senior Director of Media Relations & Communications at @kimmelculturalcampus. Leslie shares how her family inspired a love of history and the arts from generation to generation.
Roberta Torian, a member of AAMP’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, shares with us why visitors should seek out the Museum, not only during #BlackHistoryMonth but yearlong.
We sat down with Jeff Marshall, Chief Diversity Officer at UM Worldwide (@umworldwide) and #AAMP Board Member, to learn what opportunities #BlackHistoryMonth represents for him.
Stephanie Mays Boyd, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Pennsylvania Convention Center and Board Member of #AAMP’s Executive Committee, reflects of the significance of institutions like The African American Museum in Philadelphia during #BlackHistoryMonth.
Setting the Tone: Clef Club Musicians @AAMP Enjoy virtual musical accompaniment performed by talented musicians from the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.
Our new Director of Programming and Education, Nina Ball (@lyrispect) reflects on the significance of #BlackHistoryMonth and what she plans to bring to #AAMP.
Commune centers on the work of Richard J. Watson, and features educator and performance artist LaTreice V. Branson, in conversation with natural hair activist, cosmetologist, trichologist, Renata J. Hall. As founder of Rk Hair Loft, Renata offers her clients an exclusive salon experience, specializing in hand-crafted hair care remedies that have been used on lupus, thyroid and diabetic clients, and offering specialized care for those experiencing cognitive, neurological, and mobility disorders. Her clients of over 20 years know her as "The Hair Caretaker."
Due to the inclement weather, the Museum will be closed today, Saturday, January 29th. Please visit our website at www.aampmuseum.org for a list of upcoming Black History Month programming!
Our newest exhibition, Portals+Revelations: Richard J. Watson Beyond Realities is OPEN! Plan your trip to the Museum and come see an incredible range of masterful works by AAMP's Artist in Residence, Richard Watson. AAMP is open from Thursday – Sunday : 10 AM – 5 PM 📷: Embassy: Interactive, LLC
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