A new exhibition dedicated to civil rights is set to open in Harlem through The National Urban League.
The Urban League Empowerment Center will provide 20,000 square feet of exhibition and programming space for The Urban Civil Rights Museum (UCRM) in Harlem.
Located on 125th street, the permanent exhibition developed in partnership with Local Projects, aims to educate and inspire the community on how the movement impacted northern U.S cities.
The UCRM’s initiative includes:
- Showcase the role of the civil rights movement in the development of northern cities
- Provide interactive and educational experiences suitable for children and adults about the long, historic fight for justice featuring individuals and organizations that were key in the Movement, including the National Urban League’s work in helping historically disadvantaged people pursue, obtain, and maintain economic and social opportunities
- Capture the stories of the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration and ways people have organized to secure better lives for themselves
“It would be misleading to present the history of the northern cities outside the context of the Atlantic Slave Trade and the institutionalized enslavement of African people and their descendants,” said Urban Civil Rights Museum Executive Director Jennifer Scott in a press statement. “What did it really mean to be a free Black New Yorker, pre-Civil War, when states as nearby as New Jersey were still enslaving people, and how complicated was the idea of freedom at that time?”
The museum will also explore the Black cultural, artistic, and political Renaissances that flourished in other communities like Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, Washington DC and in Los Angeles.
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, believes there is no better time to open The Urban Civil Rights Museum, than now. Morial told Axios the museum is arriving at a time when efforts to erase or sanitize history are intensifying.
The history of the National Urban League, which was born in Harlem in response to the Great Migrations, and its role in nurturing the Harlem Renaissance, will be interwoven in the museum’s sweeping narrative.
Harlem, a geographical centerpiece in the American Revolution, currently houses several museums dedicated to African Americans’ cultural contributions, with UCRM as the latest. The Studio Museum, The National Jazz Museum, and Dwyer Cultural Center are all state-of-the-art facilities featuring African American exhibition galleries.
For more information on the Urban Civil Rights Museum, please visit The National Urban League.