Celebrating Black History with These Travel Destinations

Black History Month is the perfect time to rediscover the deep cultural roots of the Black diaspora (people of African descent living around the world). What better way to do so than to see Black history for yourself?  

From subterranean churches and ancient ruins to celebrated museums and more, here are some of our favourite travel destinations to celebrate Black history — this February, and all year round.  

• Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco
• Lalībela, Ethiopia
• Africville Museum, Halifax
• Historic Centre of Agadez, Niger
• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit
• Meroë, Sudan
• Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
• Museu Afro Brasil, Brazil
• Bar’s Bay Park, Bermuda
• The Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali
• The Nelson Mandela Museum, South Africa
• Asante traditional buildings, Ghana
• Accompong Maroon Village, Jamaica
• Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, New York
• Black Cultural Archives, Brixton

The MoAD, a Smithsonian affiliate, is entirely dedicated to showcasing the influential art, history and culture of the African diaspora. Including a visit in your San Francisco getaway is a must.

Since its opening in 2005, curators, chefs, poets, emerging artists, educators, influencers and community members alike flock to the MoAD. Not only to pass on Black and African cultural treasures, but to bring them to life.

Lalībela’s famous rock-carved churches date back to the late 1100s, when Emperor Lalībela commissioned their design. Carefully carved from the top down, these eleven churches are a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and represent a significant pilgrimage site today for Ethiopian Christians and Coptic Christians around the world.

Africville was born in the late 1700s when Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia. The community boomed until it was destroyed in the 1960s and its members were forcibly removed. Today, you can visit the rebuilt Africville church — now a museum and guardian of the memories of the erased Black Canadian town, and a hub for the community that survives.

Mud-brick palaces, mosques and homes bake under the Saharan sun in northern Niger. These ancient buildings, made from even more ancient earth, stand their ground against the sands of time.

Built by the Sultanate of Air in the 15th century, the historic centre of Agadez is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and quite a sight to behold. Especially the Grand Mosque’s 27-metre-tall minaret.

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History — simply known as “The Wright” — is the proud home of the largest permanent exhibit of African-American culture. It’s a behemoth.

Explore the Wright’s gorgeous installations of long-celebrated and emerging art. Around every corner is a new spotlight shining on the strength, creativity and resilience of Black Americans. It’s impossible not feel a sense of awe from the power that emanates from every wall.

Echoes of the kingdom of Kush still ring out in Sudan, east of the Nile. The ancient city of Meroë has cast its collection of geometric shadows in the sand since it was first established in the first millennium BCE. Travellers today can explore the impressive city of palatial buildings, holy temples and, of course, iconic pyramids. This UNESCO World Heritage Site makes for a mind-boggling visit.

The 11th century city complex known as Great Zimbabwe is remarkably well-preserved for its age. Travellers can still walk among the granite walls of its main acropolis, Great Enclosure and smaller neighbourhoods that lie outside of the city walls. It’s not difficult to imagine the buzz of life that once filled this sprawling city.

Smack dab in São Paulo’s Ibirapuera Park, you’ll find the precocious Museu Afro Brasil. It’s home to a growing collection of over 6,000 artifacts that celebrate the African threads weaved into Brazilian culture and history.

The Museum’s Ruth de Souza theatre (named after the Brazilian actress) is a place of living culture — musicians, thought leaders, politicians and dancers are welcomed regularly to celebrate Afro-Brazilian lives.

“We Arrive”. Present tense. This aptly named sculpture installation can be found on the shoreline of Barr’s Bay Park, where once a ship lost its way along the Middle Passage. The 78 enslaved on board were greeted unexpectedly by an already free population, and given the opportunity to call the island home.

Spend a beautiful sunny day picnicking in Bar’s Bay Park, then make your way to Tucker House Museum in Barber’s Alley, St. George — just a 30-minute drive away. There, you’ll discover the story of Joseph Hayne Rainey, who bought his own freedom and sailed straight to Bermuda, opening a barbershop to get by. The same Joseph Hayne Rainey who later returned to the US to become the first African American member of the US House of Representatives, five times over.

Look closely and you’ll see the three symbolic ostrich eggs that top the spires of the Great Mosque. Go inside, and you’ll feel how the two-foot-thick mud walls protect the worshippers inside from the unrelenting sun. Visit in the spring, and you’ll witness the annual festival of re-plastering the mosque’s mud walls — the same walls that have been standing since they were first shaped in the first century CE. To experience the Great Mosque of Djenné is nothing short of magical.

Most first-time visitors to South Africa will look to Robben Island for a glimpse of Nelson Mandela’s life story. But don’t make the mistake of missing a trip to the museum which former president Mandela himself supported as part of his legacy. He spoke of the Nelson Mandela Museum as a place to “transform the heritage landscape from our apartheid past… [and] promote economic development… This is a region in which I was born and grew up.”

The museum's visitors can see a vision not only of South Africa’s troubled past, but of its optimistic future.

The Abosomfie (traditional shrine houses) of the Ashanti people are found in 10 separate villages near Kumasi in Ghana. Each Abosomfie has been traditionally reconstructed after the British destroyed the original buildings in the 19th century. The shrines serve as a dedicated home for Obosum, who are spiritual beings who can transform into people. The Asante traditional building in Besease is open to visitors and serves as a small museum.

Visit Jamaica's lush Cockpit Country where you'll find Accompong, a historical Maroon Village established and self-governed by indigenous Taino and Jamaican Maroon peoples in the 17th century.

You'll want to enjoy a guided tour of Charles Town Maroon Museum and the Asafu Yard, a garden full with of all kinds of medicinal plants. We also highly recommend walking the Sambo Hill Hiking Trail (it's about three hours, so bring water and good shoes!).

Not only did Harriet Tubman save hundreds of people from enslavement, she dedicated her life to providing for her parents and other elders of the African American community. Tubman established a Home for the Elderly and the AME Zion Church to serve her community. Now National Historic Landmarks, along with her home, these sites can be visited alone or with guided tours from members of the AME Zion Church.

From its beginnings as a community archive in 1981 to becoming Britain's only national heritage centre dedicated to African and Caribbean histories, the Black Cultural Archives is a must-stop for your London trip. Pair your visit to the Archives with a delicious tour of Brixton Village Market, which has served as the heart (and stomach) of the Caribbean community in London since the 1950s.