Black History Museum & Cultural Center

Call Directions Website Contact the museum

Black History Museum & Cultural Center BHMVA preserves and honors Virginia’s African American history and culture. Recognized by UNESCO and the NPS African American Civil Rights Network. BOLD VISION.
(358)

The Black History Museum & Cultural Center is open 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Wednesday -Saturday and on Sundays by appointment only. Admission costs $10 for adults; $8 for seniors and students with IDs; $6 for children 5-12 years old; and children 4 and under are free. Membership for the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia includes admissions and starts at $35 per year. For more information, visit http://blackhistorymuseum.org/membership. BRIGHT FUTURE.

Thank you to K🦋, Miss Black United States 2026, for spending Saturday with us at Black History Museum of Virginia- open ...
10/26/2026

Thank you to K🦋, Miss Black United States 2026, for spending Saturday with us at Black History Museum of Virginia- open Wed thru Sat 10am to 5pm and talking honestly about the crown, the work that happens behind it, and what Black pageantry has meant to her and our communities for generations.

And thank you to every queen who came out and filled this room! Seeing you all together, across titles and across years, was a beautiful moment.

More Than a Crown: Pageantry, Representation, and Black Excellence in Virginia is on display. Plan your visit to the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia.

📍 122 W. Leigh Street, Jackson Ward
Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM

HAPPENING TODAY! Join us as we welcome Kira Edwards, recently crowned Miss Black United States 2026 (OFFICIAL MISS BLACK...
10/24/2026

HAPPENING TODAY! Join us as we welcome Kira Edwards, recently crowned Miss Black United States 2026 (OFFICIAL MISS BLACK UNITED STATES®)!

K🦋 will be here talking about her own road and about what Black pageantry has meant to our communities for generations. Those stages were never only about beauty. They were about claiming dignity when the wider world was not handing it over, about sisterhood, about women quietly building something for the girls coming up behind them.

Come be part of it. Bring your daughter, your niece, the young person down the street who needs to see it in person. Free, open to the community, and no registration required.

🗓 Saturday, October 24th, 2 PM to 4 PM
📍 122 W. Leigh Street, Jackson Ward

For 75 years Miss USA looked a certain way. Justus Kelley changed that. Justus Kelley went from Miss Virginia USA to Mis...
10/22/2026

For 75 years Miss USA looked a certain way. Justus Kelley changed that.

Justus Kelley went from Miss Virginia USA to Miss USA 2026, and nobody had done it married, nobody had done it as a mom, and nobody had done it in their thirties. She is the first on all three.

That is the whole reason More Than a Crown: Representation, and Black Excellence in Virginia is on display. Not the gowns and not the trophies, but the women who stepped onto those stages and quietly moved the line for everybody coming behind them.

There is a little girl who is going to walk through this exhibition and see somebody who looks like her doing something she did not know she was allowed to want. Nobody will have to explain it to her. She will just carry it out the door with her.

Plan your visit!

📍 122 W. Leigh Street, Jackson Ward
Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM

It is a pleasure to invite you to join us this Saturday as we welcome Kira Edwards, recently crowned Miss Black United S...
10/20/2026

It is a pleasure to invite you to join us this Saturday as we welcome Kira Edwards, recently crowned Miss Black United States 2026 (OFFICIAL MISS BLACK UNITED STATES®)!

Something happens to a young girl when she watches a woman who looks like her walk into a room with her head up. Nobody has to explain what is possible. She just knows.

That is the heart of More Than a Crown, the exhibition on our walls right now, and it is the work Ms. Kira does every day. When she is not carrying the title, she is a school-based mental health clinician, sitting with young people who need somebody steady in their corner.

She will be here talking about her own road and about what Black pageantry has meant to our communities for generations. Those stages were never only about beauty. They were about claiming dignity when the wider world was not handing it over, about sisterhood, about women quietly building something for the girls coming up behind them.

Come be part of it. Bring your daughter, your niece, the young person down the street who needs to see it in person. Free, open to the community, and no registration required.

🗓 Saturday, October 24th, 2 PM to 4 PM
📍 122 W. Leigh Street, Jackson Ward

10/18/2026

One market left 🌱

The Jackson Ward Farmers Market closes out the season on Saturday, October 31st at Abner Clay Park, 10 AM to 2 PM. In partnership with Happily Natural Festival.

Fresh produce and handmade products from local Black farmers and makers. Bring the family, bring your bags!

The money you spend out here goes straight to the growers standing behind those tables, and turnout is a big part of how we decide what next season looks like. We want to keep this going. Show up and buy something, and you help make that happen.

📍 Abner Clay Park · Jackson Ward
🗓 Saturday, October 31 · 10 AM to 2 PM
🔗 blackhistorymuseum.org

This is what Virginia Black history is. Not one name or one moment, but generations of people whose lives only make full...
10/18/2026

This is what Virginia Black history is. Not one name or one moment, but generations of people whose lives only make full sense when you see them together. The ones who built. The ones who taught. The ones who stayed when leaving would have been easier.

And it is why Black History Museum of Virginia- open Wed thru Sat 10am to 5pm exists. So those stories sit in one room and make a sound.

Come learn some of it. Bring somebody with you!

📍 122 W. Leigh Street, Jackson Ward
Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM

10/16/2026

The Black History Museum probes the limits of American liberation.

More Than a Crown: Pageantry and Black Excellence in Virginia is open.When mainstream stages limited how Black beauty an...
10/16/2026

More Than a Crown: Pageantry and Black Excellence in Virginia is open.

When mainstream stages limited how Black beauty and achievement could be seen, Black communities built their own. HBCU royal courts. Juneteenth celebrations. Local pageants. Miss Virginia.

Think about what that room felt like. Whole families turned out. Mothers and grandmothers who had spent their lives being told beauty did not look like them, watching a girl from their own block get crowned.

And the little girls in those seats, seeing somebody who looked like them called beautiful and worthy, out loud, in front of everybody. A child does not forget that.

Come see the Virginians who challenged who gets to wear the crown.

📍 122 W. Leigh Street · Jackson Ward
🕙 Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM
🔗 blackhistorymuseum.org

Preserving stories that inspire.

Our latest exhibition at Black History Museum of Virginia- open Wed thru Sat 10am to 5pm More Than a Crown: Pageantry an...
10/13/2026

Our latest exhibition at Black History Museum of Virginia- open Wed thru Sat 10am to 5pm More Than a Crown: Pageantry and Black Excellence in Virginia is opening TOMORROW, Wednesday, October 14th!

When mainstream stages limited how Black beauty and achievement could be seen, Black communities built their own. HBCU royal courts. Juneteenth celebrations. Local community pageants. Miss Virginia. Stages where the standard was set by the people who built them.

This exhibition is about the Virginians who competed, represented their communities, and challenged who gets to wear the crown. The sashes and the gowns are part of it, but so is what came with them. Scholarships. Platforms. Leadership. Being seen on your own terms.

Opens Wednesday. Come see it!!

📍 122 W. Leigh Street · Jackson Ward
🕙 Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM
🔗 blackhistorymuseum.org

Preserving stories that inspire.

Address

122 W. Leigh Street
Richmond, VA
23220

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+18047809093

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Black History Museum & Cultural Center posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Black History Museum & Cultural Center:

Shortcuts

Share

Category