Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum
The Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, named for Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman is dedicated to preserving Maryland's African American heritage and serves as the state's official repository of African American material culture. The museum was dedicated on February 24, 1984.
The original museum was housed within the former Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church in the heart of historic Annapolis. The Victorian-Gothic structure was included in the Annapolis Historic District in 1971 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The recently completed BDM addition is a four-story addition that uses the nineteenth-century brick of the church's north façade as its interior lobby wall.
A young Frederick Douglass.
Image courtesy of the Banneker-Douglass Museum.
The museum's newest exhibit will begin on February 24, 2024, and will be on display through January 4, 2025. Curated by Thomas James, REVISIT/REIMAGINE: The Civil Rights Era in Maryland and Parallels of Today will be a multidisciplinary exhibition that features historical photographs from the Afro Newspaper archive that chronicle the African American experience, civil rights leaders, and activities in Maryland.
With 2024 being the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture (MCAAHC) and Banneker-Douglass Museum are declaring 2024 as “Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights” with exciting and relevant programming, exhibitions, and partnerships to commemorate the milestone year of this groundbreaking legislation.
Plan your visit to Annapolis and Anne Arundel County and explore this and other Civil Rights programming throughout 2024.
NEWS
Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum celebrated their name change honoring Harriet Tubman with Keynote by Nikki Giovanni on November 1st, 2024!
A New Chapter - Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum Renaming Ceremony & Maryland 160th Emancipation Day Reception featuring Keynote Speaker Nikki Giovanni took place on Friday, November 1, 2024 at 12:00 PM.
The public was invited to celebrate this momentous occasion via live stream on the BDTM Facebook and Youtube channels on Friday, November 1, 2024, at Noon.
The event was an afternoon of reflection, celebration, and inspiration as the new Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum name is unveiled with the powerful words of the esteemed poet, author, and activist Nikki Giovanni. A distinguished figure of the Black Arts Movement and a graduate of Fisk University (‘67), Giovanni's work has inspired generations, earning her numerous accolades including seven NAACP Image Awards, the first Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and the Langston Hughes Medal for Poetry.
