The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, the oldest independent museum devoted to Black history in the country, is celebrating a major milestone this year.
On Monday (Feb. 16), the Chicago institution founded by Dr. Margaret Taylor Burroughs in 1961 marked its 65th anniversary.
“Today, we celebrate 65 years of legacy, culture, and community,” museum officials wrote in an Instagram post featuring snapshots of Burroughs, her original home, and the museum.
“Founded on February 16, 1961, by Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center was built as a home for Black history and for 65 years, that vision has lived through artists, elders, students, storytellers, and neighbors like you,” the caption continued. “This museum has always been more than a building. It’s a gathering place. A classroom. A mirror. A launchpad.”
The post added, “Today, we open our doors to celebrate together with cake, connection, and collective joy as we honor where we’ve been and step boldly into where we’re going. Because legacy isn’t something we inherit. It’s something we build together.”
The museum, which began inside Burroughs’ Bronzeville home under the name the Ebony Museum of Negro History, had grown so extensively by 1973 that it moved to a larger space to accommodate its expanding archives and exhibitions.
“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,” Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, a brand ambassador and historian, told NBC 5 News in a recent interview.
“If we were to go back in time to 1961, you would see that anytime African Americans were represented, it was big Sambo lips, a bone through their nose,” he continued. “So to give up space in her home to highlight the beauty and culture and texture of Black folks is not only selfless, but it’s endearing. And that’s why we’re here 65 years later.”
What started from humble beginnings to showcase the depth and beauty of Black culture has grown into a dynamic cultural hub. Current exhibitions include “Paris in Black,” which features more than 100 photographs, paintings, sculptures, and artifacts chronicling the 1920s exodus of Black American expats to Paris, including Josephine Baker, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Langston Hughes. “The Many Colors of Us” invites children to explore race, ethnicity, and culture, while “Freedom: Origin and Journey” guides visitors through the arc of Black progress in America using more than 200 objects, archival videos, and images.
The museum has also earned a special place in President Barack Obama’s heart through the years, making the fact that the Obama Presidential Center, slated to open in Chicago in June, all the more sweet.
“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,” Thomas added. “He’ll tell you himself, he spent many a day in the museum, and he’s spent a lot of time with our founder.”
