The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center is celebrating its 65th anniversary as one of Chicago’s most iconic institutions.
The nation’s first and oldest museum of Black history and culture started in 1961, in the Bronzeville home of Dr. Margaret Taylor Burroughs. Back then it was known as the Ebony Museum of Negro History.
By 1973, the museum needed more space and moved into its current location in Washington Park.
“She didn’t wait to get a big grant to buy a building. She didn’t wait for philanthropists to get their money together and donate space. She used the resources that she had,” said Shermann Dilla Thomas, a brand ambassador and historian.
With the Obama Presidential Center set to open in June, the hope is that even more people will visit the DuSable Museum.
“We’re having amazing conversations with the good folks at the Obama Presidential Center about being collaborative,” Thomas said. “We want folks to come see the library of America’s first Black president, and after you leave that library, we want you to come and see a place that really emboldened and empowered President Barack Obama. He’ll tell you himself, he spent many a day in the museum, and he’s spent a lot of time with our founder.”
