If somebody asked me how often I’ve visited the DuSable Museum of African American History, I couldn’t even give an estimate. From elementary school field trips to music concerts for the late Malcolm Jamal Warner and Mike-E from Afroflow, it’s one of those places in Chicago that I visit like a shopping mall — sporadically but enough to know my way around (even when the decor changes) and easily recognize the best places to park.
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So when the Obama Presidential Center opened on Juneteenth this year, I assumed I could visit anytime I wanted to. But the more I saw news reports saying the tickets were sold out for June and July, the more I started wondering if I was underestimating how many people go to museums. Whenever I travel, I always poke my head into a Black museum and Afrocentric library, and I never see people climbing all over each other to get in. It was a ghost town when I visited a museum in Maui, and Obama grew up in Hawaii. Then again, the Obamas may be a bigger deal in Chicago.
Recommended Read: “Cheap travel: 12 things to do in Washington D.C. for $10 or less ~ White House visit or not, there’s plenty to enjoy on the East Coast”
Once I saw August and September were sold out, I finally logged in and bought my ticket. (At the time of this publication, no one can buy tickets and the purchase message says, “Sorry, reservations are not currently available.” Additionally, the museum updates availability on the second Wednesday of every month at 10 a.m. CT. Good luck 🍀)
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I’m ecstatic to hear about the increased interest in museum exhibits featuring historical Black figures. This also makes the argument that Black travelers should continue supporting Black museums (and this presidential center) no matter where they’re traveling.
With Donald Trump’s idiotic executive order in March 2025 putting Vice President JD Vance in charge of “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” to attempt to eliminate the so-called “divisive race-centered ideology,” the Smithsonian has been a constant target of being “anti-white.” And that makes museums as large as the Smithsonian or as small as the Black Holocaust Museum even more important to support financially and culturally.