DuSable Museum Of African American History

Sundays are free admission days. However, I would be to attend. Lots of history. Excited to see the expansion plans. I love the Military exhibit as my Dad retired from the USN. This is a great place to bring the entire family. The exhibit about the first black mayor of Chicago was another highlight. It’s not a huge museum, but it’s worth a stop the next time you are in Chicago. Additionally, the gift shop has reasonably priced items. We purchased several instruments from African countries.

They are expanding this museum. DuSable has an exhibit which informs guests of this.
This museum needs work. It is unappealing.
Exhibits focused on are very specific topics. For example, specific figures in Chicago black history. Also, black contribution to American military. The layout is sloppy and hard to follow.
I was confused in the jazz and art room. For Chicago, this is sad. The best part was the exhibit on the mayor. The mayor is in his office and cuts you a piece of his legacy.
There was a lot of empty space and some things were hard to piece together.

I recently visited this museum. I was very disappointed to see that many of the exhibits that accurately depicted slavery and the brutal realities of blacks in America have been removed from display. While this may lead to a more accepted and less offensive exhibit for some people it does not give an honest appraisal of the black experience in this country.

I appreciate that they have the museum but it beeds a lot of repairs. I like the theater and it had some interesting displays but they need more. It would’ve been cool if more if the attractions talked or had some sort of audio so that you dont have to read everything. Sometimes its hard to determine whats important information and whats just extra blurbs and interesting facts. If you have a short amount of time audio will help you get the meat and potatoes quickly.
There were some amazing tributes to some amazing people i feel as it some of these things should be played up. There is so much missing from this museum when it comes to black history. Off to a good start but there is some work to be done. I suggest the owners visit the African American history museum in Detroit its on another level.

Dusable
I went to Northern Illinois University for my Bachelors’ degree. There was Altgeld Hall– which means ‘old money or old gold,’ many universities relay on old money to survive. Lincoln Hall was a dorm, everyone understands where the name comes from– as the whole school was made possible from a land grant presented by President Lincoln. And many of my classes were in Dusable Hall. I remember one white girl was confronted by another student and asked her, «do you know why it is called Dusable Hall?» and she gave the dumbest answer that made no sense was not going to pipe in at all because all I knew was that he was an African American, there is a museum downtown also named Dusable and I will plead ignorance in this case as I didn’t know. NIU did not make it easy for students to know why buildings were named for what purpose.
But the Dusable Museum does.
It is easy to look at my profile pic and see– Darin is white. I’ll also ask you to notice that I’m a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and if you read a few more of my reviews know that I have helped adults with disabilities participate in different events like Special Olympics. I understand you can’t know this by looking at skin color but only by asking or having a conversation.
Again, here is where Dusable makes an excellent opportunity for those dialogues.
There are really great staff and docents that want to take people on a mental journey into deeper understanding. Have a conversation, don’t just say the words, ‘white privilege’ and say it no longer exists as Bill O’reily thinks but as those that have an opinion about how to change hearts and minds so that actions can change as well.
The art pieces convey messages and meaning. I will be the first to admit, I don’t ‘get’ all of it. I have a very broad sense of the world but it is in traditional academia because that is what I studied– so ask me about ballet art watercolors for a specific Mozart opera and I’ll give a detailed opinion, ask me about the art in Dusable and I’ll first let anyone else give you more info while I attentively listen– because I don’t know as much and need to listen to have a better answer. I can see the pieces and I appreciate the art for its ability to bring topics to the forefront that I would not otherwise think about unless confronted as the woman at NIU was about really her not knowing or being aware of her choices of words.
I’m glad that there is the museum to highlight and showcase art that I would not otherwise be able to see and way more grateful that there is deeper discussions than just the Feb. reduced down food, folks, and fun approach to teaching about a few key African American historical figures.
Please, do not take my word for it, but go and visit the museum for yourself with an open mind and I guarantee you will learn something that you did not expect to learn and see art that is familiar because art touches all of our lives in the same space but have a powerful message from the author. It is not as popular as the Field Museum but that may be because of the size of Field. It certainly is important to our collective history as Americans and they do a great job of presenting wonderful art and history in context that can be easily understood and digested.
So– I highly recommend learning more and going with an open mind.
Fyi– Point du Sable has become known as the «Founder of Chicago». In Chicago, a school, museum, harbor, park and bridge have been named, or renamed, in his honor; and the place where he settled at the mouth of the Chicago River in the 1780s is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, now located in Pioneer Court. More info can be found on him —

This is a community museum that reflects the local history and culture of Chicago as well as the evolving culture and values of African Americans. The evident dedication and care shown throughout the modest exhibits reflects a local commitment to enriching the community’s understanding of history instead of bringing in tourist dollars with European art exhibits. How refreshing to see a side of real Chicago history!
I hope the museum receives continued funding to accomplish their goals and give back to the community. This is not a touristy area of the city but I’m glad I made the trip — they should be receiving more funding to tell their story and facilitate community discussion.

Visited this site today. The customer service was great. The older lady at the front door was beyond helpful.
She went through all of the areas in the museum. It was a great thing to see so much African American history and other information.
We really enjoyed the Hubert Washington section. That was the most informative area to us.
On the con side of the coin. The souvenir shop needs a little more souvenirs.
But I will be back! I recommended not just African Americans to visit but all individuals. It’s American history!

I know I love the Dusable Museum so when I saw that they were having what looked like a fun and exciting event that included wine; I thought why not. The name of the event was «DUSOMETHING CREATIVE! ART. WINE. ENTERTAINMENT. DU YOU!» I hope this becomes an annual event because I absolutely had so much fun and I wished it was a little longer as far as times goes because they had so many different stations to visit and also I wish they allowed the wine to flow more freely.
So, when we got there they gave you 3 drink tickets and that included the water so I wish they would have either gave you more drink tickets or just let people drink freely because they weren’t filling up the glass that much for it to be a problem… lol that’s just my opinion and they shouldn’t have made water count as a ticket. Other than that everything else was great.
I truly enjoyed the screen printing as well as the animation class I got my circle to go across the page and I felt like I was a kid again I was so excited. They also had a Collective Mosaic project that we didn’t get to finish but I found so relaxing I think I want to do one here at home.
I didn’t participate on the Collective Mural but after I saw what they did I sure wish I had it was a phenomenal picture of a young man and woman when they finished and everyone who participated had a piece of their art and on the Mural and it was beautiful.
They had cell photography, card art, as well as poetry writing I didn’t get to those but if they do this again I will try my best to make it to one of those projects.
They had a performance by Mouth Peace, Lyte Skin and another young lady that I can’t remember her name but they were Awesome with a capital A.
The price was right as well only $ 15 plus a $ 1.62 fee from Eventbrite and all supplies, food, and drinks (3) were included.
The DJ was great if I wasn’t trying too get my art on I would have been in the middle of the dance floor getting my dance on. I have to say as things were winding down the DJ put on different slides like wobble and people came out and danced.
All in All I loved this event and if they have another one… I will be back!
Enjoy!

Fun place for a weekend visit. Plan an 60 – 90 minutes and you and your family will appreciate it.

This is a great place and a wonderful part of the community. The exhibits are educational and inspiring. I love the gift shop and I hope they expand and add more items. I like that you can also buy item online. Website is simple and easy to use. I think all the staff were friendly and I definitely will return! I even got a membership. :-) they show films, have lectures and workshops, and even host events. Love it!

Chicago has a lot of great Museums. Dusable is not one of them. When I went yesterday, 4 people were highlighted in the Museum, by size of the exhibit: Harald Washington, Margaret Taylor Burroughs, MLK, and Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable. Limited or no mention of any other of the myriad of African Americans and their history. There was more space dedicated to touting their new expansion then there was given to talking about the history of either Du Sable or MLK. And the museum is not so small that without the expansion, they just don’t have the space to show anything. One of the exhibits on Refuge Jews from Germany teaching at historically black colleges in the 40s had maybe a dozen bookshelves. But ¾ of these shelves were dedicated to unlabeled wooden blocks designed to look like books.
Perhaps my expections were incorrect or too high for this museum, but I was dissatisfied.

Small but somewhat informative. The interesting part was the K.K.K. artwork showing young black males are the new KKK because of the black on black crime. I wanted to see more such as the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 and things like that but they have a lot of African artifacts and things like that if your into that. It kind of sucked that you could not take pictures of the inside of the museum but I understood.

I liked this place, and loved the area. The staff was great too.
My favorite part was all of the photos of African American military veterans. I loved seeing the photo of the all black unit in The Civil War.
I especially loved looking at a photo of the 351^st field artillery unit that served in World War I. The photo stated they just arrived back from France.
My grandfather’s dad served in World War I, fought in France and was even injured, so this part of the museum resonated with me.

I went here after visiting the Oriental Institute for my final museum of the day. The museum was free since it was a Sunday. The main floor has the permanent and some temporary exhibits, and the bottom floor has just temporary exhibits. I definitely enjoyed the material on the main floor. The Harold Washington exhibit was great (though the wax figure was a bit weird), and I also enjoyed the exhibit on African Americans in the military. The bottom floor was just okay to me. Still, the museum is a good place to visit in the neighborhood, especially on Sundays (when it’s free).
4 stars/​5

I love this museum, it is lovely and has wonderful events. There are interactive components like the section on West African music as well as African American and African diaspora paintings and sculpture.

I made the 40 minute bus ride on the #4 bus from the loop to the museum. The bus stops right at the back of the museum (Cottage Grove/​57^th). Admission was $ 10 for adults. Cheaper admission for students, seniors, and residents of Chicago. Some of the staff were giving a training session/​walk-​thru to docents of the museum. I listened in and learned soo much! The exhibits were great. The bottom floor was just ‘okay’ to me. I thoroughly enjoyed everything on the main floor. The Harold Washington exhibit being my favorite. Im not from Chicago and was not familiar with him. I walkied away with a wealth of information and it sparked the desire for me to research more. I LOVED this museum. I learned about their plans for expansion in the next 3 years. I can’t wait to come back and visit when all is complete. The DuSable is a gem on the southside of Chicago!

I went back to the Dusable Museum this weekend for one of my African Studies classes. I have to say, I am very impressed with the new exhibits including the quilt exhibit of Obama on the bottom floor. Sundays are still free days, which is perfect for broke college students like myself, even though I wouldn’t mind giving money to the Museum.
As you enter the museum, the first exhibit through the doors is «Africa Speaks.» The room is loaded with artifacts ranging from the BC era all the way until the 20^th centuries found all over the African continent from Egypt to Nigeria to South Africa. They have a display of shackles and handcuffs used during the Trans-​Atlantic slave trade which is a great, yet disturbing piece of history.
The next exhibit you come across is dedicated to African Americans in Armed Forces. This is probably the one aspect of African American history that doesn’t really trigger an interest in me. In the same room is one of my favorite exhibits, the music and gospel section. The wall in this room is lined with quotes and sayings from famous musical artists such as «I can make it through the sunshine and rain,» and «my soul looks back and wonders how I got over.» I was disappointed that this exhibit focused mostly on gospel as opposed to Jazz and Blues.
Downstairs, the walls are lined with quilts which pay tribute to Obama. I’m not a fan of his policies, but I respect what he stands for in our modern society. He is a turning stone in African American history. The quilts are colorful and expressive of this representation.
Make sure you check out the gift store on your way out. They have a lot of cool things having to do with African American histories. Sometimes trunk shows are going on across from the gift store. Last time I went, I believe it was an African Trunk show. The Dusable Museum is the only museum in Chicago that I would not mind donating money to or volunteering. The message of hope and the history of the exhibits is truly American.

Absolutely awestruck by the whole museum. From its humble beginnings to what it is today. Sadly, last November the founder passed away. but her dream of being the biggest African Museum to date is still alive.
I was very moved when I first walked in and saw that the first case I saw was actual shackles and it did move me to the point of tears. I knew after that, that this would be an experience. So here I go to the «movie room» where the founder and others spoke from a big screen television mounted to the wall and you are able to sit in a «theater» kind of seating area and just enjoy the acoustics of what the museum has to offer from its humble beginnings into what it is today. Grand I say Grand!
I completed that part of the museum and proceeded across the space to a room that shows what the museum is doing across the street. A whole theater area for the public! Wow, the museum grows as we speak.
They have a beautiful display on the second floor of the late Mayor Harold Washington that is very interesting since it has animotronics and an actual «robot» if you will of the late Mayor narrates the story of his up and coming election and even talks about the conspiracy theory of his death. It is eerie yet very beautiful. I have a lot of love for the Mayor and this whole productions which also includes his desk, and some of his personal items of the Mayor also. Definitely go, this is a great museum to visit.

The Dusable Museum is head a hidden gem. It so worth the trip to the museum. For the people who use public transportation, just get on the #4 — Cottage Grove bus until the 56^th Street stop — walk across the street.
I haven’t been there for couple of years. Just as interesting as my first first time. The museum is very well laid out. When you go, just plan to spend couple of hours to go through this museum. The museum covers all of the countries of Africa.
I wish the staff members more energetic.
Overall, a museum everyone should visit.

I love this place. I haven’t been to the museum side in awhile. However, I’ve been to many events here and I must say each time has been a joy. The place is nice and contemporary and not to large but just right.