Baltimore African American Heritage Itinerary

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Begin your day with a visit to the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, America's first and only wax museum of African American history and culture. The museum houses more than 100 life-size and lifelike wax figures presented in dramatic and historical scenes, and takes you through the pages of time with wax figures featuring special lighting, sound effects and animation. Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, Benjamin Banneker, Thurgood Marshall and Billie Holiday, as well as many other national figures, chronicle the history of African people from around the globe. The experience is highlighted by a dramatic walk through a replica of a slave ship complete with Middle Passage history.

Make a stop at Baltimore's Wall of Pride, located on Carey and Cumberland Streets. This powerful urban mural memorializes heroes like Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes, to name a few.

Find keys to Baltimore's past and future while visiting the Orchard Street Church. Founded in 1825, legend has it that the Orchard Street Church was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The building, complete with escape tunnel, houses the 19th-century church and the Baltimore Urban League, an organization committed to enhancing the social and economic conditions of African Americans in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

End your day with a performance by the nation's oldest continuously operating African American community theater, the Arena Players. The company produces five main stage productions each year, including both classic works and contemporary plays by African American writers.

The African American Heritage & Attractions Guide is a publication of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.