The African American Museum of Iowa is a statewide museum dedicated to preserving, exhibiting, and teaching Iowa’s African American history. As Iowa’s leading educational resource on the topic, we educate more than 30,000 people each year through museum tours, traveling exhibits, research services, youth and adult education programs, and community and fundraising events.
Our permanent exhibit, Endless Possibilities, traces Iowa’s African American history from its origins in western Africa to the present—through slavery, the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement. Our latest temporary exhibit gallery opens on September 10, 2021 and will feature Mapping Exclusion: Redlining in Iowa. This exhibit explores the systematic denial of various services by federal and local government agencies and the private sector to residents of specific neighborhoods.