In the spring of 1999, a committee was appointed by the City of Houston Mayor Lee P. Brown to lay the groundwork for establishing an African American Museum. After a year’s deliberation, the committee proposed the forming of two separate institutions; one to preserve the richness of Houston’s African American history and the other to promote the vibrancy of African and African American culture and art forms. Thus, the African American Library at the Gregory School and the Houston African American Museum were born. Organized in the summer of 2000, the Museum received its 501(c)(3) designation as the Houston African American Museum. In 2007, the name was changed to Houston Museum of African American Culture to better reflect its refined mission.

Since opening our doors  operating similar hours as our neighbors in 2012, we reached 40,000 annual visitors three years ago and are on track to have 50,000 visitors in 2021, ensuring that HMAAC remains the most visited African American cultural asset in Houston. HMAAC is a museum in a building and in the community that is engaged in superior artistic and film expression and visitor and community empowerment and uplift. We have engaged our community, not simply in art and history, but with the topics of our time, allowing the young and young at heart to understand our contemporary experience and define our future as a community and as a nation.

HMAAC Board and Staff is grateful to former Mayor Lee P. Brown for founding HMAAC!