The museum was chartered on February 3, 1994, and Nancy Johnson, who started it, opened it with her husband in a house on Plum Street, according to the Monroe-West Monroe Convention and Visitors Bureau. Lorraine Slacks joined her as a partner and later led the move to Chennault Park Drive; Slacks's son, Ross Slacks, is the executive director. The stated mission has not changed: to preserve and promote African American heritage in the area and offer programs that build cultural awareness. The museum serves a 15-parish area and is the only stop in Ouachita Parish on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.
Inside, exhibits cover the African American pioneers who helped settle Monroe and what they built there. Explore Louisiana adds seminars and research materials on the civil rights movement of the 1960s in northeast Louisiana. There is art by local artists Bernard Menyweather, Don Cincone and Daryl Triplett, along with displays on jazz legends, African textiles and quilting, and the Traveling Black Inventor's Museum. A 2010 article described life-sized figures of Frederick Douglass, Madam C.J. Walker and Mary McLeod Bethune at the entrance.
The museum was the first in the area to host spoken-word poetry events, and over 2,000 children visited during one Black History Month, the visitors bureau reports. It is at 1051 Chennault Park Drive, Monroe. The bureau lists Tuesday to Friday hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and admission of $5 for adults. Other listings give different hours, so call 318-342-8889 before you go.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour