Among the city’s most significant museums and memorials located beyond the Mall, the African American Civil War Museum and Memorial is located in U Street, a neighborhood that's long been a nexus of black culture and history. Walk the space to view its permanent collection of uniforms, photographs, and other mementos that documents the troop's largely untold story.
You can visit the African American Civil War Museum as part of many tour itineraries, including neighborhood explorations of U Street, customized private tours, and African-American history tours. You can also visit independently.
Admission to the museum is free for all visitors.
Photography is permitted in the museum, though flash photography is not allowed.
No food or drink is allowed inside the museum, and there are no on-site eateries. The neighborhood has many restaurants, including the landmarked Ben's Chili Bowl.
Shop the small on-site gift shop.
The African American Civil War Museum is on Vermont Avenue in the city’s U Street neighborhood. To reach the landmark via public transportation, take the Yellow and Green Metro lines to U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo station. From the station it's a 5-minute walk. The museum is also served by a number of bus lines and can be reached by car, bike, or on foot.
The museum is open daily, on weekdays and Saturdays from midmorning to midafternoon and on Sunday in the afternoon only. The standalone memorial is located outdoors and can be visited 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Operated by the National Park Service and designed by Ed Hamilton, the African American Civil War Memorial is located just adjacent to the African American Civil War Museum. A striking outdoor sculpture and place of remembrance, the moving landmark is dedicated to the more than 200,000 black soldiers who fought for the Union, and is the first such monument of its kind.
