Celebrate African American Heritage

National Parks that Preserve or Commemorate African American Heritage or Related Themes

African American Civil War Memorial National Memorial, District of Columbia: By supporting the Union, slaves and free blacks, living in the North and South, courageously advanced the cause of freedom for more than four million enslaved people. The African American Civil War Memorial commemorates the military service of hundreds of thousands of Civil War era African American soldiers and sailors. Etched into stainless steel panels of the memorial are names identifying 209,145 United States Colored Troops (USCT) who responded to the Union's call to arms. Their successes and frustrations were closely intertwined with the social changes, political turmoil and economic fluctuations that accompanied the Civil War.

African Burial Ground National Monument, NY: From the 1690s until the 1790s, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6 acre burial ground in Lower Manhattan, outside the boundaries of the settlement of New Amsterdam, later known as New York. Lost to history due to landfill and development, the grounds were rediscovered in 1991 as a consequence of the planned construction of a Federal office building. A memorial at the African Burial Ground National Monument honors the memories of the estimated 15,000 Africans buried at the approximately seven-acre site in the 17th and 18th centuries. The memorial opens daily at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 5:00 p.m except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial National Memorial, VA: The residence of Robert E. Lee and his family before the Civil War, Arlington House has a unique and interesting story, with connections to many important figures, issues and events in American History. Built by George Washington Parke Custis and his slaves between 1802 and 1818, the house and grounds have served many purposes over the last two hundred years: a family home for the Lees and Custises, a plantation estate and home to 63 slaves, a monument honoring George Washington, a military headquarters, Freedman's Village, a community for emancipated slaves and a national cemetery.

Booker T. Washington National Monument, VA: On April 5, 1856, a child who later called himself Booker T. Washington, was born in slavery on this 207-acre tobacco farm. The realities of life as a slave in piedmont Virginia, the quest by African Americans for education and equality, and the post-war struggle over political participation all shaped the options and choices of Booker T. Washington. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881 and later became an important and controversial leader of his race at a time when increasing racism in the United States made it necessary for African Americans to adjust themselves to a new era of legalized oppression. Visitors are invited to step back in time and experience firsthand the life and landscape of people who lived in an era when slavery was part of the fabric of American life.

Boston African American National Historic Site, MA: Located in the heart of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, the site includes 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th century African American community, including: the African Meeting House, the oldest standing African American church in the United States. The sites are linked by the 1.6 mile (2.5 km) Black Heritage Trail®. Augustus Saint-Gaudens' memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the African American Massachusetts 54th Regiment stands on the trail.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, KS : On October 26, 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-525 establishing Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site to commemorate the landmark Supreme Court decision aimed at ending segregation in public schools. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws." The site consists of the Monroe Elementary School, one of the four segregated elementary schools for African American children in Topeka, and the adjacent grounds.

Cane River Creole National Historical Park & National Heritage Area, LA: The park is located within the Cane River National Heritage Area in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, and includes 44.16 acres of Oakland Plantation and 18.75 acres of Magnolia Plantation. The two park sites include a total of 67 historic structures remnant from 200 years of plantation life. These plantation sites demonstrate the history of colonization, frontier influences, French and Creole Architecture, cotton agriculture, slavery and tenancy labor systems, changing technologies, and evolving social practices over two hundred years.

Carter G. Woodson Home, District of Columbia:
Imagine a world in which people like you have no written history, or that which has been written is incomplete or distorted. Before Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson (1875–1950) began his work, there was very little information, and much of that stereotypical misinformation, about the lives and history of Americans of African descent. The Carter G. Woodson Home at 1538 9th Street, NW in Washington, DC, was Dr. Woodson's home from 1915 until his death in 1950. He directed the operations of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History and pursued his own studies of African-American history from there. After his death, the home continued to serve as the national headquarters of the Association until the early 1970s. It is now vacant, closed to the public, and in need of rehabilitation. The home was acquired by the National Park Service in 2005.

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, SC: The historic site was established to interpret Charles Pinckney's plantation Snee Farm, his role in the development of the United States Constitution and the transition of the United States from a group of colonies to a young nation. Interpretive exhibits, located in a house built circa 1828 but which is not Pinckney related, highlight these areas as well as the influences of African Americans in the development of Snee Farm. The park interprets the economic and political implications of the institution of slavery because Snee Farm was formerly a plantation and contains the archaeological remains of slave cabins.

Colonial National Historical Park, VA: Colonial National Historical Park (NHP) administers two of the most historically significant sites in English North America. Historic Jamestowne, the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607 (jointly administered with APVA Preservation Virginia), and Yorktown Battlefield, the final major battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1781. The arrival of the first Africans in English North America occurred at present-day Hampton and Jamestown in 1619, an act symbolic for contemporary African Americans. Yorktown was an important port of entry for enslaved Africans bound for nearby Williamsburg, Virginia’s colonial capital. During the 1781 siege of Yorktown, blacks participated on both sides, constructing fortifications for the British army, and serving under arms in General Washington’s army (though Virginia denied free or enslaved African Americans the right to enlist in local military).

Cumberland Island National Seashore, GA: Georgia’s largest and southernmost barrier island has been the setting for numerous periods of cultural history including early native peoples, European expansion and trade, plantation period, and the guilded age of wealthy industrialists. The harvesting of live oak for ship building in the late 1700’s left cleared land which was then cultivated in plantation crops. Over 400 enslaved Africans labored in fields of Sea Island cotton, indigo and rice until Union forces occupied the Island. Prior slaves returned as freedmen and later established a community and church on the North end of the island. The North End Settlement, as it was called, reflects the life and culture of the slave presence on the island with the remaining church, a few sharecroppers’ cabins, and a cemetery with marked graves. Further south approximately 25 free standing chimneys mark the location of slave quarters from one plantation. These sites, while on Federal lands, are not easily accessible due to retained rights ownership and distances.

Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP, OH: Dayton Aviation Heritage commemorates three exceptional men - Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and Paul Laurence Dunbar - and their work in the Miami Valley. Paul Laurence Dunbar achieved national and international acclaim in a literary world that was almost exclusively reserved for whites. This gifted and prolific writer produced a body of work that included novels, plays, short stories, lyrics, and over four-hundred published poems. His work, which reflected much of the African American experience in America, contributed to a growing social consciousness and cultural identity for African Americans in the United States.

Fort Davis National Historic Site, TX: Set in the rugged beauty of the Davis Mountains of west Texas, Fort Davis is one of America's best surviving examples of an Indian Wars' frontier military post in the Southwest. From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and the Chihuahua Trail, and to control activities on the southern stem of the Great Comanche War Trail and Mescalero Apache war trails. Fort Davis is important in understanding the presence of African Americans in the West and in the frontier military because the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry and the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry, all-black regiments established after the Civil War, were stationed at the post. From 1867 - 1885, Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry and 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry fought to subdue the Apaches and Comanches.

Fort Pulaski National Monument, GA : The defining events of Fort Pulaski occurred during the American Civil War. In April of 1862, Union troops directed rifled cannon fire at the fort breaching the southeast angle. The quick success of this experimental cannon surprised military strategists. The accuracy and range of the rifled cannon rendered brick fortifications obsolete. Immediately after capturing the fort, Union Major General David Hunter, an ardent abolitionist, released General Orders #11 freeing enslaved persons in Georgia, South Carolina, and portions of Florida. Many of these individuals were recruited i nto the Union army comprising the First South Carolina Colored Regiment.

Fort Scott National Historic Site, KS: The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, the first black regiment to see combat in the Civil War, was mustered here. Fleeing Indians brought black slaves to the fort, and the town still has a black community.

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, District of Columbia: From 1877 to 1895, this was the home of Frederick Douglass, the Nation's leading 19th-century African American spokesman. Visitors to the site will learn more about his efforts to abolish slavery and his struggle for Human Rights, Equal Rights and Civil Rights for all oppressed people. Among Frederick Douglass' other achievements, he was U.S. minister to Haiti in 1889. Authorized Sept. 5, 1962, as Frederick Douglass Home; redesignated Feb. 12, 1988 as the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

George Washington Carver National Monument, MO: George Washington Carver National Monument was established as a public memorial to George Washington Carver in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a scientist, educator and humanitarian. Although Dr. Carver spent only 10 to 12 years on the Diamond Grove farm, the area and community greatly influenced the course of his life. It was here that Carver was born into slavery and orphaned as an infant. Yet, he grew up with a love and appreciation of nature that would sustain him throughout his life. Carver's boyhood home consists of rolling hills, woodlands, and prairies. The 240 acre park includes a Discovery Center with a museum, audio-visual room, interactive discovery exhibits, research library, and gift shop; plus a 1-mile nature trail where visitors tour the 1881 historic Moses Carver house, Carver Family Cemetery, Boyhood Statue, and other cultural sites retracing Carver’s boyhood years on the Moses Carver homestead.

Hampton National Historical Site, MD: The park preserves the remnants of a once a vast estate from the 1700s and 1800s. Its centerpiece is an elegantly furnished Georgian mansion set amid formal gardens and shade trees. It is the story of a seven generation family business, early American industry and commerce, and changing cultural tastes. It is also the story of the economic and moral changes that made this kind of estate life obsolete. Most of all, Hampton is the story of people -- enslaved African Americans, indentured servants, hired industrial and agricultural workers, and the estate owners -- who made this lifestyle possible. Due to renovation work, the mansion is closed to the public until further notice. The park itself is still open with all programs starting from the farmhouse located at the home farm, which includes several estate outbuildings, including slave quarters.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, WV: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in the states of West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, John Brown, "Stonewall" Jackson, and Frederick Douglass are just a few of the prominent individuals who left their mark on this place. The story of Harpers Ferry is more than one event, one date, or one individual. It involves a diverse number of people and events that influenced the course of our nation's history. Harpers Ferry witnessed the first successful application of interchangeable manufacture, the arrival of the first successful American railroad, John Brown's attack on slavery, the largest surrender of Federal troops during the Civil War, and the education of former slaves in one of the earliest integrated schools in the United States.

Homestead National Monument of America, NE: This unit of the National Park Service commemorates the Homestead Act of 1862 and the effects it had on land, people, and the world. The Homestead Act was extremely progressive for its time, allowing women, African Americans, and immigrants to claim up to 160 acres of the public domain for settlement and cultivation. The Homestead Act took effect January 1, 1863 - the same day as the Emancipation Proclamation. Many former slaves journeyed west to begin new lives on homestead claims. Eventually, over two million homestead claims were made in 30 of the 50 states. Approximately 270 million acres were distributed under the Homestead Act before its final repeal in 1986.

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve, LA: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve was established to preserve significant examples of the rich natural and cultural resources of Louisiana's Mississippi Delta region. The park seeks to illustrate the influence of environment and history on the development of a unique regional culture. New Orleans has multiple significance for African Americans: the development of jazz; Creoles of color; participation of free men of color in the battle at Chalmette and burial of African Americans in the national cemetery; an African American community was located on the site of the battlefield through the 1960s.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, MO: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial consists of the Gateway Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, and the Historic Old Courthouse. The Old Courthouse was the site for the first two trials involving Dred and Harriett Scott, two slaves who sued for their freedom. The decisions at this location did not resolve the issue nor did the final decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. The ruling in March of 1857 provoked emotions on both sides of the slavery issue. The Gateway Arch commemorates the role of St. Louis in westward development and the Museum of Westward Expansion recognizes the people who lived in the area of the Louisiana Purchase. In both events, African-Americans played significant roles, including those of entrepreneur, mountain man, Buffalo Soldier, Exoduster, and emigrant.

The Lincoln Memorial National Memorial, DC: The Lincoln Memorial is a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln and the nation he fought to preserve during the Civil War (1861-1865). During the years after it was dedicated, the Memorial became the focal point of many important First Amendment rallies and an important symbol in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The 1939, Easter Sunday, Marian Anderson Concert held at the Memorial, was in many ways the tactical beginning of the modern civil rights movement. It was a peacefully staged protest concert, and the first major attempt to bring balance to the themes of Social Justice and National Unity. On August 28, 1963, one of the greatest moments of the Civil Rights Movement occurred when Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, AR: On the morning of September 23, 1957, nine African American teenagers held the line against an angry mob protesting integration in front of Little Rock's Central High School. As the students met their new classmates for the first time inside the school, outside violence escalated and the Little Rock police removed the Nine from the school for their safety. The next day, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to escort the nine students into the school. One of the nine later remembered, “After three full days inside Central, I knew that integration is a much bigger word than I thought.” This event, broadcast across the nation and world, was the site of the first important test for the implementation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954. Arkansas became the epitome of state resistance when the governor, Orval Faubus, directly questioned the authority of the federal court system and the validity of desegregation. The crisis at Little Rock’s Central High School forced the nation to resolve to enforce African American civil rights in the face of massive southern defiance during the years following the Brown decision.

Maggie L. Walker National Historical Site, VA:Maggie L. Walker grew up in post Civil War Richmond, Virginia, and achieved fame and respect as a progressive and talented African American woman in the early 20th century. Despite many adversities, she achieved success in the world of business and finance and was the first woman in the United States to charter and serve as president of a bank. The site includes her residence of thirty years and a visitor center detailing her life and the community in which she lived and worked. The house is restored to its 1930's appearance with original Walker family pieces. The neighborhood around the Maggie Walker site is a National Historic Landmark Historic District, Jackson Ward, long associated with African Americans.

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY: Curious visitors have come to Mammoth Cave since 1816 to see the subterranean realm. Travelers of those early years often wrote accounts of the black guides who led tourists through the cave in the 1800s. Accounts of Mammoth Cave slave guides Stephen Bishop, Materson Bransford and Nicholas Bransford were published on both sides of the Atlantic and brought more visitors to discover the cave first-hand. Stephen Bishop died young at age 37 after discovering miles of new cave passageways. Descendants of Mat and Nick Bransford continued to guide visitors in Mammoth Cave long after the Civil War had ended. Every day from 1838 to 1939, Mat or one of his descendants was waiting to lead visitors into the mysterious darkness of Mammoth Cave. Their century-long legacy and the stories of other African American guides and hotel servants continue to be celebrated at Mammoth Cave National Park.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Site, GA:Just past noon on January 15, 1929, a son was born to the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King in an upstairs bedroom of 501 Auburn Avenue, in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple named their first son after Rev. King, but he was simply called "M.L." by the family. During the next 12 years, this fine two story Victorian home is where "M.L." would live with his parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and their boarders. The home is located in the residential section of "Sweet Auburn", the center of black Atlanta. Two blocks west of the home is Ebenezer Baptist Church, the pastorate of Martin's grandfather and father. It was in these surroundings of home, church and neighborhood that "M.L." experienced his childhood. Here, "M.L." learned about family and Christian love, segregation in the days of "Jim Crow" laws, diligence and tolerance. It was to Ebenezer Baptist Church that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would return in 1960. As co-pastor with his father, "Daddy King", Dr. King, Jr. would preach about love, equality, and non-violence.

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, DC: The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site commemorates the life of Mary McLeod Bethune and the organization she founded, the National Council of Negro Women. The Bethune Council House was Mary McLeod Bethune's last official Washington, DC residence and the first headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women. Mary McLeod Bethune founded Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida and served as an advisor on African American affairs to four presidents. She was appointed Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration by President Roosevelt. She was the first African American woman to hold so high an office in the federal government. The site features the three story Victorian town house which was her home when she was in Washington, DC and housed the offices of the National Council of Negro Women and a carriage house in which the National Archives for Black Women's History is now located.

Natchez National Historical Park, MS: Natchez National Historical Park celebrates the rich cultural history of Natchez, Mississippi and interprets the pivotal role the city played in the settlement of the old southwest, the Cotton Kingdom and the Antebellum South. The Park is made up of three units; Fort Rosalie is the location of an 18th Century fortification built by the French and later occupied by the British, Spanish and Americans. The William Johnson House was a house owned by William Johnson, a free African American businessman and slaveholder, whose diary tells the story of everyday life in antebellum Natchez. Melrose was the estate of John T. McMurran, a planter and slaveholder, who rose from being a middle class lawyer to a position of wealth and power in antebellum Natchez. Melrose includes a stately Greek Revival mansion, and several outbuildings, including furnished quarters, where the enslaved lived and labored. Melrose and the William Johnson House are the only units currently open to the public.

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, LA: New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park was established to celebrate the origins and evolution of America's most widely recognized indigenous musical art form. A story rich with innovation, experimentation, controversy and emotion, the park provides an ideal setting to share the cultural history of the people and places that helped shape the development and progression of jazz in New Orleans. Through interpretive techniques designed to educate and entertain, New Orleans Jazz NHP seeks to preserve information and resources associated with the origins and early development of jazz in the city widely recognized as its birthplace.

Nicodemus National Historical Site, KS: This area preserves, protects, and interprets the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War. The town of Nicodemus is symbolic of the pioneer spirit of African Americans who dared to leave the only region they had been familiar with to seek personal freedom and the opportunity to develop their talents and capabilities. Settled by African American homesteaders in 1877, there are still about 26 permanent residents. The community hosts an annual homecoming for former residents, descendants of settlers, and others interested in the town's history on the last weekend of July every year.

Petersburg National Battlefield, VA: Petersburg , Virginia, became the setting for the longest siege in American history when General Ulysses S. Grant failed to capture Richmond in the spring of 1864. Grant settled in to subdue the Confederacy by surrounding Petersburg and cutting off General Robert E. Lee's supply lines into Petersburg and Richmond. On April 2, 1865, nine-and-one-half months after the siege began, Lee evacuated Petersburg. When the war began, Petersburg was considered to have the largest number of free blacks of any Southern city. Many of the freedmen prospered as barbers, blacksmiths, boatmen, draymen, livery stable keepers and caterers. When Petersburg became a major supply center for the newly formed Confederacy, both freedmen and slaves were employed in various war functions. Once the siege began in June 1864, African-Americans continued working for the Confederacy. The greatest concentration of U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) was at Petersburg. In the initial assault upon the city in June, a division of USCTs in the XVIII Corps helped capture and secure a section of the Dimmock Line. The other division at Petersburg was with the IX Corps and it fought in the Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864. In December 1864, all the United States Colored Troops around Petersburg were incorporated into three divisions and became the XV Corps of the Army of the James. It was the largest black force assembled during the war and varied between 9,000 to 16,000 men. Overall in the Petersburg Campaign, USCTs would participate in 6 major engagements and earn 15 of the 16 total Medals of Honor awarded African American soldiers in the Civil War.

Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, CA: On the night of July 17, 1944, residents in the San Francisco area were jolted awake by a massive explosion that lit up the sky. At Port Chicago Naval Magazine 40 miles east of San Francisco, 320 men were instantly killed when the munition ships they were loading with ammunition and bombs for the Pacific Rim troops mysteriously blew up. It was the largest homeland disaster during World War II. Everyone within 1,000 feet of the loading dock perished; Sailors, Marines, Navy Armed Guard, Coast Guardsmen, Merchant Marines, and working civilians. Over 200 of the deaths were young African American enlisted sailors working for a segregated military. The explosion and its aftermath led to the largest Naval mutiny trial and was one of the catalysts to persuade the U.S. Armed Services to desegregate following the war. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED TO VISIT THIS SITE (925) 838-0249.

Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, AL:The climax to the decades-long voting rights crusade in Alabama erupted in March 1965 as Civil Rights activists converged on Selma, Alabama. The final push to achieve a nationwide solution to the disenfranchisement of African Americans came as the result of three strategically planned marches, the first of which took place on March 7. Nearly 500 marchers proceeded through the streets of Selma and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where they were faced by scores of Alabama State troopers. The troopers attacked the non-violent marchers, leaving many of them bloodied and severely injured, on a date forever ensconced in history as “Bloody Sunday". A second march ended in a prayer session at the point of Sunday's confrontation. When an injunction circumventing the march to the Alabama State Capitol was reversed, a plan was devised to conduct the monumental trek on Sunday, March 21, 1965. Thousands of people, representing many races and nationalities, moved before the eyes of the world in demonstration to guarantee the right to vote. The five-day/four-night event covered a 54-mile route along US Highway 80 through chilling weather and rain. The result was the personal triumph of those who participated in the historic trek and the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965. Today, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail stands as a testament to the sacrifices made in the triumph to preserve the “right to vote” as the bedrock of American democracy. Guided Tours Require Reservations, call: (334-727-3200)

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, CA: These parks are home to giants: immense mountains, deep canyons, huge trees, and legendary personalities. In 1903, Acting Superintendent Charles Young, the first African American park superintendent in the national park system, made highly significant contributions to the protection and development of Sequoia and General Grant National Parks. He and his command of African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” were the driving force in completing the first road into Sequoia park. He also negotiated with landowners for the government purchase of privately owned lands within the parks’ boundaries. At the time of his appointment as superintendent, he was the third African American to graduate from West Point, and the only one actively commissioned.

Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, FL: O ne of the last unspoiled coastal wetlands on the Atlantic Coast. Kingsley Plantation is one of three sites in the park. A sea island plantation, named for Zephaniah Kinglsey, who ran it from 1813 - 1839. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many people came to Florida. Some, like Zephaniah Kingsley, sought to make their fortunes by obtaining land and establishing plantations. Others were forced to come to Florida to work on those plantations, their labor providing wealth to the people who owned them. Some of the enslaved would later become free landowners, struggling to keep their footing in a dangerous time of shifting alliances and politics. All of these people played a part in the history of Kingsley Plantation. A fifth of a mile from the plantation home of Zephaniah Kingsley are the remains of 23 tabby cabins. Arranged in a semicircle, there were 32 cabins originally, 16 on either side of the road. This area represents the slave community, homes of the men, women, and children who lived and worked on Kingsley Plantation more than 150 years ago.

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, AL:This site preserves the airfield, historic hangar, and other buildings at Moton Field, where African American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen received their initial flight training during World War II. The ranks of the Tuskegee Airmen included Coleman Young, Percy Sutton, and Daniel "Chappie" James, African-American pilots who had to struggle for desegregation of bases and the right to enter combat. The outstanding performance of the over 15,000 men and women who shared the "Tuskegee Experience" from 1942-1946, is immortalized at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. Guided Tours Require Reservations, call: (334-724-0922).

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, AL:Since the beginning of America’s existence, education has always been considered as one of the keys to social, political and economical acceptance for African Americans. Tuskegee Normal School was established by the state of Alabama, influenced by a former slave and a former slave owner to educate newly freed people and their children. The Normal school, later Institute, became a beacon of hope for African Americans to reach their goal of acceptance. The school officially opened on July 4, 1881 in the African American Methodist Episcopal Zion Church under the auspices of religion. This date was chosen to commemorate the independence of a Nation and the freedom of a forgotten people. Booker T. Washington became the first principal of a newly formed school at the age of twenty-six. He later hired individuals like George W. Carver and Robert Taylor to help lead the institute to its world-renowned status. Today, the legacy of Washington, Carver and many others has been preserved in the Historic Campus District of Tuskegee University where original buildings constructed by the students, from bricks made in the Institute brickyard still stand. The Site, located on the campus of present day Tuskegee University, became a part of the National Park System in 1974.

Virgin Islands National Park, U.S. VI : Virgin Islands National Park, renowned throughout the world for its breathtaking beauty, covers approximately 3/5 of St. John, and nearly all of Hassel Island in the Charlotte Amalie harbor on St. Thomas. Within its borders lie protected bays of crystal blue-green waters teeming with coral reef life, white sandy beaches shaded by seagrape trees, coconut palms, and tropical forests providing habitat for over 800 species of plants. To these amazing natural resources, add relics from the Pre-Colombian Amerindian Civilization, remains of the Danish Colonial Sugar Plantations, and reminders of African Slavery and the Subsistence Culture that followed during the 100 years after Emancipation - all part of the rich cultural history of the Park and its island home.