The African American Museum of Iowa (AAMI) reopened on Saturday after being closed for renovations since 2022. The $5 million renovation project included changes to the building, such as constructing a new main entrance and expanding the lobby, as well as the addition of an interactive genealogy lab, which will help people research the history of their families.
The opening of the expanded and restored museum on May 11 featured permanent exhibits including “Endless Possibilities,” tracing Iowa’s African American history back to the transatlantic trade of enslaved people between the 16th and 19th centuries, and “Thirty Years of AAMI,” a retrospective of the museum’s work. A new exhibit “Racist Things: Hateful Imagery in the American Household” will open in September.
The AAMI is open Tuesday-Friday, noon to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A Yoruba Engungun mask created for an annual ceremony honoring the spirits of important ancestors. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageA reproduction of a doorway in the Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves), a fort built on Gorée Island off the east coast of Africa in 1776, which was an important center of the Atlantic slave trade. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageAn exhibit explains how the Atlantic slave trade functioned. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageAn AAMI patron views a reproduction of an 18th century illustration of a ship trafficking human beings as part of the Atlantic slave trade. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillagePolitical ephemera from Barack Obama’s historic first campaign in Iowa. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageItems from AAMI’s 2020 exhibit, “Unwavering: 21st Century Activism.” — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageAn exhibit describes Iowa’s role in the Underground Railroad. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageAdults and kids attend the reopening of the African American Museum of Iowa, 55 12th Ave SE, Cedar Rapids. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageItems related to the opening of the AAMI in 2000. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little VillageKatz Drug Store in Des Moines was the site of an important sit-in protest in 1958 in response to the owner’s refusal to serve Black people, despite Iowa’s Civil Rights Act officially prohibiting such discrimination. — Malcolm MacDougall/Little Village
