This year, the National Urban League is expanding its mission of supporting African American and underserved communities to include a new history preservation arm. Recently, the organization’s president and CEO, Marc Morial, announced plans to launch the “Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem.”
Housed within the National Urban League’s newly opened “Empowerment Center,” which serves as the organization’s headquarters, the museum will reportedly offer a unique glimpse into the Northern civil rights movement. Describing the Empowerment center as a “beacon,” Morial says the new building “is a declaration that we will not be erased, that our history matters, and that our communities deserve investment—not neglect.”
“The National Urban League has always been a bridge between aspiration and achievement, between policy and people,” he added in a press release. “This Empowerment Center strengthens that bridge, connecting Harlem’s storied past to its promising future, linking our national mission to local impact, and uniting generations of struggle with generations of success.”
At a time when Americans are witnessing intense efforts to censor, erase, and alter history, the Urban League CEO underlined the racial motivations behind these efforts, while also affirming the community leaders’ persistent determination to tell and preserve our stories. Through permanent interactive installations, rotating exhibits, and immersive educational experiences, the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem’s mission is to “interpret, document, and share the stories of the long and ongoing struggle for justice and civil rights in Northern urban environments across America.”
“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 Jennifer Scott, the newly-appointed Executive Director, Chief & Curator for the Urban Civil Rights Museum, in a press release. “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?”
As the first museum in New York City dedicated to the American Civil Rights Movement and one of the only museums in the nation to focus on the movement in Northern states, the museum will explore the history of communities like Weeksville, a Free Black, independent community in the 19th century, and more.
She continued: “We’re really taking a long view of civil rights, not just the period of the 1950s and 1960s that most people think of as the Civil Rights Era. We’re looking at it from the very roots of the urban north, all the way up through the present day and the Black Lives Matter movement. The policy decisions and political decisions that have impacted northern city centers will be brought out, along with the different forms of injustices and inequity.”
“We invite people to reflect on what brought us to where we are, and how that influences us and inspires us to move forward,” she shared, reflecting on the museum, which is described as “a local anchor and a global destination for learning, reflection, and empowerment.”
The Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem is expected to open in June 2026, aligning with the National Urban League’s 250th anniversary. For more details visit: https://urbancivilrightsmuseum.org/
