BNHA National Great Blacks in Wax Museum

Affiliations

Authentic Baltimore

Interpretive Framework

Gaining Freedom for All: African American Heritage and the Struggle for Equality

Resource Type

Museums

1601 E North Ave

Baltimore, Maryland 21213

The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is the nation’s only wax museum dedicated to African Americans. Exhibits with life-size and life-like wax figures explore the immense diversity of the African American experience, from the horrors of captivity to those who fought for liberty and human rights. Figures bring to life the stories of famous individuals, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Harriet Tubman, as well as less well-known heroes, including Arctic explorer Matthew Henson and educator Mary McLeod Bethune. The museum features a wax figure of Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Born a slave, she escaped to freedom in 1826. Truth was the first black woman honored with a bust in the U.S. Capitol.