#aaam2017

Photo: Gathering of Pioneers, Detriot, 1978, Courtesy of the Archives and Research Library of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

In Detroit in 1978, leaders of African American Museums, including Chicago's Margaret Burroughs (seated, center), and the Smithsonian's John Kinard (standing, second from left), formed the African American Museum Association, later renamed the Association of African American Museums (AAAM). Today, AAAM serves the interests and needs of black museums and cultural institutions around the world.

Photo: The state of the African American and African Diaspora museum field, convenings, 2017.

The services provided by AAAM enhance the ability of those museums to serve the needs and interests of persons of African Ancestry and those who wish to know more about the art, history, and culture of African –derived communities. Association member organizations include cultural organizations, historical societies, and museums that collect, preserve, and exhibit objects valuable to art, history, and science, in addition to educational institutions, research agencies, and cultural centers which promote the shared cultural history of this field.

AAAM works as an advocate for the interests of its membership, and seeks to strengthen member institutions through improved communication, shared resources, training, annual conferences, technical aid and assistance, and through fund raising guidance. The Association also provides services supportive for the professional needs of its membership through newsletters, placement bureaus, networking opportunities, and professional development.

Our Museum is honored to host the AAAMs 39th Annual Conference from July 31–Aug. 4th. This conference brings together over 500 leaders of African American and African-descent museums and cultural centers from across the country, the Caribbean and Latin America to engage in a series of academic sessions, speakers, authors’ dialogues and visits to cultural institutions around the Washington area.

Photo: An Educational Vision, Dr. Charles H. Wright’s traveling International Afro-American Museum, 1966, courtesy of the Archives and Research Library of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. 

Before the 1960s, majority-run museums, like the media and schools, generally ignored or demeaned African American history and culture. Individual black collectors had preserved objects that documented black achievements and experiences, but there were few public displays of the material. 

In the late 1960s, Dr. Margaret Burroughs, founder of the DuSable Museum in Chicago, and Dr. Charles H. Wright of the Museum of African American History in Detroit initiated a series of conferences for Black museums. The National Association of Museums and Cultural Organizations and the Black Museums Conference, the first informal Black museum association, evolved from these conferences. In 1978, a consortium of six Black Museums, with funding from the National Museum Act (administered by the Smithsonian Institution), presented a series of conferences at participating institutions. The conferences provided the opportunity to lay the groundwork for yet another organization. Under the chairmanship of E. Barry Gaither, the committee prepared by-laws, which were ratified in Detroit in February of 1978. The new organization adopted the name “African American Museums Association” (AAMA), and elected its first governing council. AAMA’s first office was at the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists in Boston, Massachusetts.

Now known as the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), the AAAM has focused on identifying the composition and needs of its constituents and the larger African American museum community, aided by the support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on the number of projects to survey the field and implement strategic planning process for the Association.

Our Museum is honored to host the AAAMs 39th Annual Conference from July 31–Aug. 4th. This conference brings together over 500 leaders of African American and African-descent museums and cultural centers from across the country, the Caribbean and Latin America to engage in a series of academic sessions, speakers, authors’ dialogues and visits to cultural institutions around the Washington area.