A museum built on the place where a history marked by slavery began

Opened in 2023 after more than 20 years of planning, the International African American Museum (IAAM) is located in a deeply symbolic place: Gadsden’s Wharf, where more than 40% of the enslaved Africans who arrived in North America disembarked. It is, literally, a museum built on the wound, and at the same time, a space of memory, dignity, and hope.

Far from the traditional approach, this museum does not glorify the past: it dismantles it, explains it, and humanizes it. Through interactive technology, testimonies, contemporary art, and historical objects, the IAAM tells the story of the African diaspora in the United States through a living and respectful perspective. Here you learn about culture, resistance, music, religion, cuisine, language... and also about the systems that oppressed, and still oppress.

Outside the museum, the “African Ancestors Memorial Garden” connects the building to the sea. It is a contemplative space, surrounded by sculptures, fountains, and benches. Being there, facing the water, knowing what happened centuries ago on that very spot, is a silent but transformative experience.

Ideal for those who travel not only to see, but to understand.