Black History - Atlas Obscura
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Black History

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Cotton, in front of an exhibition on hybridization.
taxidermy

The Black Taxidermist Who Made History at Chicago's Field Museum

A new exhibit celebrates the life and work of Carl Cotton.
Sabrina Imbler February 27, 2020
performances

The History of Race, Performance, and Drag Intersect in a Rare Photo of Thomas Dilward

Dilward performed with all-white minstrel troupes that otherwise excluded black people.
Sabrina Imbler February 21, 2020
The Antioch Baptist Church, donated to the Whitney Plantation.
Edgard, Louisiana

Whitney Plantation

The first plantation museum in the United States to focus on the lives of enslaved people.
Brooklyn, New York

Abu's Homestyle Bakery

This family-owned bakery is one of the last places in Brooklyn to sell the Nation of Islam–inspired bean pie.
The Madam C.J. Walker Museum and WERD Radio
Atlanta, Georgia

Madam C.J. Walker Museum & WERD Radio

The legacies of two historic Black American institutions live on in this unassuming brick building.
At this Gullah Geechee home on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, painted doors and shutters keep out evil spirits called "haints."
ghosts

What the Color 'Haint Blue' Means to the Descendants of Enslaved Africans

In the Lowcountry, the unique shade is both protective talisman and source of unspeakable suffering.
Shoshi Parks January 14, 2020
Door of No Return.
Ouidah, Benin

La Porte du Non-Retour (The Door of No Return)

A monument to the more than one million enslaved Africans deported from the port of Ouidah.
A scene from the 11th annual oyster festival.
festivals

In a Town That Escaped Slavery, an Oyster Festival Celebrates Black Culture and Resistance

The shells may have once pointed the way to freedom.
Tarisai Ngangura December 12, 2019
Smith School.
Boston, Massachusetts

Smith Court

In the 19th century, this was the center of Boston's Black community.
The Paul Robeson House & Museum
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Paul Robeson House

The singer, actor, and activist lived here during his final years, and now it’s a museum dedicated to his legacy.
Mount Moor Cemetery.
West Nyack, New York

Mount Moor Cemetery

A historic Black graveyard hidden in the parking lot of one of America's largest malls.
The Soul Stirrers, Sam Cooke (left), JJ Farley, SR Crain, RB Robinson, and Paul Foster (right), in 1950. (Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)
civil rights

How a Newspaper Article Saved Thousands of Black Gospel Records From Obscurity

A professor in Texas collects and digitizes rare recordings from across the country.
Santi Elijah Holley September 24, 2019
Visitors to Lev's Gathering Place can listen to thousands of classic recordings from the Golden Age of black gospel music.
Waco, Texas

Lev's Gathering Place

A musical sanctuary that preserves gospel’s Golden Age is tucked inside a library at Baylor University.
Burton Street Community Peace Gardens.
Asheville, North Carolina

Peace Gardens & Market

A nourishing complex of found object art, paintings, and sculptures that celebrate key figures in Black history.
The statue.
Yanga, Mexico

'El Yanga'

A statue of the formerly enslaved person considered "the first liberator of the Americas" stands in the town named after him.
Photograph of Colonel John Ashley House, Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Sheffield, Massachusetts

Ashley House

The former residence of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, an enslaved African-American woman who successfully sued for her freedom.
Richmond, Virginia

Evergreen Cemetery

This labyrinthine resting place of Black American leaders has been reclaimed by nature.
Madison, Wisconsin

Eston Hemings's Grave

The final resting place of one of Thomas Jefferson's formerly enslaved sons.