Founded in 1976 in celebration of the nation’s Bicentennial, the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) is the first institution funded and built by a major municipality to preserve, interpret, and exhibit the heritage of African Americans. Throughout its evolution, the museum has objectively interpreted and presented the achievements and aspirations of African Americans from pre-colonial times to the current day. AAMP is committed to telling the story of African Americans in all its permutations: family life, the Civil Rights movement, arts and entertainment, sports, medicine, architecture, politics, religion, law, and technology.
For this Juneteenth tour, participants will receive a guided tour of the museum’s core exhibition, “Audacious Freedom: African Americans in Philadelphia 1776 – 1876,” which recounts the stories of and contributions made by people of African descent in Philadelphia during the tumultuous years following the founding of our nation. Participants will also have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the universe of “Derrick Adams: Sanctuary,” an exhibition of large-scale sculpture, and mixed-media collage, and assemblage on wood panels that reimagine safe destinations for the black American traveler during the mid-20th century. The body of work was inspired by The Negro Motorist Green Book, an annual guidebook for black American road-trippers published by New York mail carrier Victor Hugo Green from 1936 to 1966, during the Jim Crow era in America—and inspiration for the Academy Award-winning 2018 movie Green Book.
Following your time at AAMP, participants will embark on a driving tour en route to Historic Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, PA, one of Philadelphia’s earliest African American burial grounds and cemeteries with more than 90,000 persons interred there, including the majority of the 18th and 19th Century Trailblazers to Freedom identified in AAMP’s core exhibition, “Audacious Freedom.”
