African American Museum and Library at Oakland

The African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) is a museum and non-circulating library dedicated to preserving the history and experiences of African Americans in Northern California and the Bay Area. It contains an extensive archival collection of such artifacts as diaries, correspondence, photos, and periodicals. It is currently located in the Charles A. Greene building in Oakland, which served as the Oakland Main Library from 1902 to 1951.

The AAMLO began as a private collection in 1946, and in 1964 became the East Bay Negro Historical Society, Inc. It later changed its name to the Northern California Center for Afro-American History & Life, before being incorporated into the city of Oakland in 1994 under its current name, the African American Museum and Library at Oakland.

Among the more than 160 collections in the library are archives relating to Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, Africa, and genealogy. Materials include photographs, manuscripts, letters, diaries, newspapers, recorded oral histories, videos, and microfilms. AAMLO’s two galleries host changing exhibitions of art, history, and culture.

AAMLO began as a private collection in 1946. Initially housed in a small shop front on Grove Street (now Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard), the collection grew quickly and, in 1960, moved into the Oakland Public Library’s Golden Gate Branch. It officially became AAMLO, a public/ private partnership, in 1994. AAMLO moved into its current location in 2002.^[2]

See also

• List of museums focused on African Americans

External links

• The AAMLO Website
• Friends of the Oakland Library page on the AAMLO
• Oakland Heritage page on the AAMLO
• A number of photographs from the AAMLO collection

References