Preserving Black History: The African American Museum of Iowa

Permanent exhibit at AAMI (courtesy of the museum)

Cedar Rapids is the home of the only statewide museum dedicated to preserving Black history and culture: the African American Museum of Iowa (AAMI), which provides an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in Iowa’s Black heritage.

Founded in 1993 by a group of individuals from Cedar Rapids’ Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, the AAMI’s mission is to preserve, exhibit, and teach the African American heritage of Iowa by providing historical exhibitions, oral history videos, educational programming, and research services. A popular museum and a valuable resource, the AAMI’s efforts reach over 30,000 people each year.

Built in 2003 in the Czech Village and New Bohemia neighborhood near the river, the museum was damaged by the 2008 flood, taking on over five feet of water. One year later, the AAMI reopened to the public, and in 2023, the city installed a flood wall along the river. The museum took advantage of this reconstruction to launch a capital campaign for extensive renovations after 19 years of operation.

While construction was underway, the museum installed an exhibit at the downtown Cedar Rapids library, and strategically placed traveling versions of the exhibit in communities across the state.

The new reception area in the African American Museum of Iowa (photo courtesy of AAMI)

Closed for over 18 months, the AAMI, with its sleek new modern facade, reopened in May of this year. The parking lot along 12th Avenue SE was replaced with stylish landscaping, offsetting the newly reinstalled Trumpet sculpture inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which was temporarily relocated during renovations.

The AAMI’s beautifully redesigned building has increased accessibility and functionality. Its welcoming new reception desk has a merchandise area fully stocked with books for all ages as well as T-shirts and mugs that support the museum. Tall windows along the main hall look out onto the sculpture patio, and in addition to their improved exhibition spaces, the museum also houses a new genealogy lab, a conference room, and an upgraded community room.

Opening day at the new AAMI building

The AAMI has two major exhibition spaces. The first houses their permanent exhibition, Endless Possibilities, which follows Iowa’s African American history from its origins in Western Africa, through the tortuous voyage across the Atlantic and the terrible experiences of slavery, to the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, and into current times. Parts of a West African village, the cargo hold of a slave ship, an early American schoolroom, and the counter at a drug store are all impressively reconstructed, providing a realistic background for conveying the African American experience.

The second space houses a rotation of temporary exhibitions. Melissa Porter, the AAMI communications coordinator, says that in a cool synchronicity, the building renovation coincides with the museum’s 30th anniversary, and the current temporary exhibition, Thirty Years of the AAMI, celebrates that. The next temporary exhibition, Racist Things: Hateful Imagery in the American Home opens on September 13. It will examine how post-Civil War society and the culture surrounding Jim Crow laws used dehumanizing Black imagery, from salt and pepper shakers to lawn ornaments, as a way to foster acceptance of racial biases and attitudes, which continue to foment intolerance to this day.

The AAMI’s 2025–26 temporary exhibition will focus on Black agriculture in Iowa, tracing the diverse impact of Black farmers on rural Iowa and the farming industry, influences that extended to science, politics, civil rights, and education.

The AAMI also hosts a number of special events. Their annual History Makers Gala on October 3 honors changemakers from all over Iowa, from trailblazing educators, authors, and athletes, to business leaders, historians, artists, and activists.

For more information on the African American Museum, visit BlackIowa.org.