Harrison Museum of African American Culture

06/01/2026

JUNETEENTH: HEALTH IS FREEDOM

This Juneteenth, we're celebrating something our ancestors fought for but were too often denied: the opportunity to live fully, safely, and well.

Join us for a two-day wellness symposium at Melrose Plaza filled with health screenings, wellness resources, educational speakers, mental health support, and opportunities to connect with organizations working to improve health in our community.

We're excited to partner with Radford University, Carilion Clinic, Seeking Wellness, and other community partners to bring resources and experiences throughout the plaza, including the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, conference rooms, wellness spaces, and common areas.

Featured opportunities will include:
• Health screenings
• Maternal health resources
• Mental health and wellness support
• Educational speakers
• Community health resources
• Wellness experiences
• And more to be announced

We'll pause programming for part of Saturday afternoon so attendees can also enjoy the Eureka Park Juneteenth Celebration before returning for additional symposium activities.

For generations, Black communities fought not only for freedom, but for the ability to care for themselves, their families, and their futures. During enslavement, people often had little control over their own health, bodies, or access to care. This symposium honors the generations who dreamed of a future where their descendants could thrive.

Because health is more than the absence of illness.

Health is dignity.
Health is opportunity.
Health is community.
Health is freedom.

📍 Melrose Plaza & Harrison Museum of African American Culture
📍 2502 Melrose Ave NW, Roanoke, VA 24017

05/27/2026

The museum will close at 5:00 today.

05/22/2026

🌟 STAR CITY CHALLENGE UPDATE 🌟
We’ve raised $123,000 toward our $200,000 goal to help reduce homelessness in Roanoke — but we still need your help!
Join the challenge today. A $25 donation gets your photo custom framed to share on social media as a “Point of Light” for our community. ⭐
JOIN US: https://raminc.org/star-city-challenge

05/21/2026

Tonight is the night!

Be sure to get your tickets!

🌟🌟🌟The Storykeepers’ Studio Play Reading Series returns!🌟🌟🌟

On May 21, 2026, the Harrison Museum presents a reading of Dutchman by Amiri Baraka — a landmark work of American theatre that confronts race, performance, power, and the violence beneath polite public life.

Storykeepers’ Studio uses dramatic literature as a living archive: a place where memory, language, and community interpretation meet in real time.

The reading series is now sponsored by Hollins University, supporting the museum’s work to bring essential Black dramatic writing into shared public space.

🎭 Dutchman
📅 May 21, 2026
🎟 Tickets: $10
📍 Harrison Museum of African American Culture
2502 Melrose Ave NW, Roanoke, VA
Take your seat. Bring someone with you. Stay for the conversation.

Buy your ticket today!
https://harrisonmuseum.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F41408

05/19/2026

Get your tickets today!

Tomorrow night is more than a film screening — it is an opportunity to gather in conversation about history, liberation, memory, and cultural survival.

Join us Wednesday, May 20 at 6:00 PM at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture for a screening of Ayiti: The Awakening, a powerful documentary exploring Haiti’s revolutionary history, cultural resilience, and the lasting aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

Following the screening, audiences will have the rare opportunity to engage directly with filmmaker Sage Love about the making of the film, the histories it explores, and the importance of preserving cultural memory through art and storytelling.

Supporting independent filmmakers and local cultural spaces helps ensure these stories continue to be told, preserved, and shared.

🎟 Tickets: $10
📅 Wednesday, May 20
🕕 6:00 PM

05/18/2026

For generations of Roanokers, Richard L. Chubb was more than an educator. He was a mentor, principal, counselor, coach, neighbor, and steady presence in the lives of countless students and families.

Join us as public historian Jordan Bell leads a special evening honoring Mr. Chubb on his 90th birthday and reflecting on the legacy of Black education, leadership, and community in Roanoke.

If Mr. Chubb impacted your life, taught you, encouraged you, or helped shape your journey, we invite you to come celebrate with us. Meanwhile, share your memories in the comments.

“What do you remember most about Mr. Chubb?”

We encourage former students, fellow educators, friends, family, and community members to comment, share stories, photographs, and tag one another as we celebrate a lifetime of service and impact.

Harrison Museum of African American Culture
May 28, 2026
6:00 PM
2502 Melrose Ave NW, Roanoke, VA
RSVP for your free ticket. https://harrisonmuseum.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F45939

05/14/2026

Healing Hands is on view through June 30, 2026.

Healing Hands: Roanoke’s Legacy of Black Medicine traces the people, practices, and institutions that shaped Black health and healing in Roanoke and beyond.

From Burrell Memorial Hospital and community nurses to midwives, first responders, pharmacists, and medical innovators, this exhibit honors healing as knowledge, service, self-determination, and cultural continuity.

Admission is free. Come walk the exhibit before it closes, and bring someone who needs to know this history.

Sponsored by Carilion Clinic and Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.

📍 Harrison Museum of African American Culture
2502 Melrose Ave NW, Roanoke, VA
🗓 On view through June 30, 2026
🎟 Free admission

05/14/2026

🌟🌟🌟The Storykeepers’ Studio Play Reading Series returns!🌟🌟🌟

On May 21, 2026, the Harrison Museum presents a reading of Dutchman by Amiri Baraka — a landmark work of American theatre that confronts race, performance, power, and the violence beneath polite public life.

Storykeepers’ Studio uses dramatic literature as a living archive: a place where memory, language, and community interpretation meet in real time.

The reading series is now sponsored by Hollins University, supporting the museum’s work to bring essential Black dramatic writing into shared public space.

🎭 Dutchman
📅 May 21, 2026
🎟 Tickets: $10
📍 Harrison Museum of African American Culture
2502 Melrose Ave NW, Roanoke, VA
Take your seat. Bring someone with you. Stay for the conversation.

Buy your ticket today!
https://harrisonmuseum.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F41408

05/14/2026

Un/Bound is coming to the Harrison Museum.

This powerful exhibition explores the lives of free Black Virginians from the arrival of the first Africans in 1619 through the Civil War.

Their stories reveal a Virginia shaped by courage, skill, family, labor, faith, resistance, and imagination. They built lives, communities, and pathways forward under conditions designed to restrict their freedom.

At the Harrison Museum, Un/Bound becomes part of a larger conversation about Black life in Virginia, Roanoke’s own histories, and the continuing work of cultural memory.

Un/Bound is presented through generous support from: The Virginia Museum of History and Culture's Virginia History Affiliates Program, Woodland Hills Assisted Living, and William H. Fralin Jr.

Join us as we open this important exhibition at Melrose Plaza.
📍 Harrison Museum of African American Culture
2502 Melrose Ave NW, Roanoke, VA
📅 On view July 15 through August 24