Last updated: January 8, 2025
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The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia)
African American Civil Rights Network
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia shares, interprets, preserves, exhibits, and commemorates the history and culture of African Americans in Virginia and their contributions to the United States. The Museum is housed in the Leigh Street Amory, a building constructed for African American militia in the late 1800s, which later became an African American educational facility and center for Black servicemembers.
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia strives to tell a more complete and inclusive story of America through the narratives of Black Virginians. The Museum’s galleries feature several permanent exhibitions which explore significant periods in African American history including Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Desegregation, Massive Resistance, and the Civil Rights Movement. Each gallery features interactive children’s exhibitions. Additionally, the Museum features national traveling exhibitions, exhibitions by local artists and community organizations, and hosts a variety of programming.
In 1895, the Leigh Street Armory was constructed in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood to serve an African American militia known as the First Battalion Virginia Volunteers. Across the country volunteer militias like the First Battalion hosted social events, performed ceremonial functions, occasionally aided local law enforcement, and served in armed conflicts. The armory would be short lived. Four years after the armory was constructed, the First Battalion was disbanded.
In 1899, the armory then became the Monroe School, an elementary school serving students in the predominantly African American neighborhood of Jackson Ward. The school closed in 1940 and briefly served as a warehouse before it was converted into a reception and recreational center during World War II for African American soldiers passing through Richmond or in town on assignment. After the war, the armory then served as an annex for a local high school then as the Colored Special School from 1952-1954.
The building is believed to be the oldest remaining armory building in Virginia, the oldest armory of a black militia company in the U.S., and one of only three armories built in the U.S. exclusively for black militias.
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia became a part of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024.
The African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. African American Civil Rights Movement through a collection of public and private resources to include properties, facilities, and programs.
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia shares, interprets, preserves, exhibits, and commemorates the history and culture of African Americans in Virginia and their contributions to the United States. The Museum is housed in the Leigh Street Amory, a building constructed for African American militia in the late 1800s, which later became an African American educational facility and center for Black servicemembers.
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia strives to tell a more complete and inclusive story of America through the narratives of Black Virginians. The Museum’s galleries feature several permanent exhibitions which explore significant periods in African American history including Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Desegregation, Massive Resistance, and the Civil Rights Movement. Each gallery features interactive children’s exhibitions. Additionally, the Museum features national traveling exhibitions, exhibitions by local artists and community organizations, and hosts a variety of programming.
In 1895, the Leigh Street Armory was constructed in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood to serve an African American militia known as the First Battalion Virginia Volunteers. Across the country volunteer militias like the First Battalion hosted social events, performed ceremonial functions, occasionally aided local law enforcement, and served in armed conflicts. The armory would be short lived. Four years after the armory was constructed, the First Battalion was disbanded.
In 1899, the armory then became the Monroe School, an elementary school serving students in the predominantly African American neighborhood of Jackson Ward. The school closed in 1940 and briefly served as a warehouse before it was converted into a reception and recreational center during World War II for African American soldiers passing through Richmond or in town on assignment. After the war, the armory then served as an annex for a local high school then as the Colored Special School from 1952-1954.
The building is believed to be the oldest remaining armory building in Virginia, the oldest armory of a black militia company in the U.S., and one of only three armories built in the U.S. exclusively for black militias.
The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia became a part of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024.
The African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. African American Civil Rights Movement through a collection of public and private resources to include properties, facilities, and programs.