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Urban Civil Rights Museum to open in Harlem this year
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Jan 26, 2026
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National Urban League
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Jan 26, 2026
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New York is getting its first-ever museum dedicated to the American civil rights movement.
“There’s a lot of focus on the Southern experience — segregation, slavery and overcoming it,” said National Urban Justice League CEO and President Marc Morial. “What’s not widely known is that slavery existed in the north.”
The Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem aims to change that, showing how northern cities like New York have been shaped by this history. Programming, as well as permanent and rotating exhibits, will focus on topics including the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration and social justice.
The museum is set to open this fall in an approximately 20,000-square-foot space within the Urban Justice League’s new 400,000-square-foot Manhattan headquarters at 117 West 125th St., across the street from the new Studio Museum.
The 17-story, $242 million building had its ribbon cutting at a ceremony attended by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Rev. Al Sharpton and state Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand. In addition to the museum, it also contains office and retail space for nonprofits and minority-owned businesses, 170 affordable apartments and a 10,000-square-foot civil engagement-focused conference center.
A rendering of the planned Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem
National Urban League
Previously, the National Urban League was based in the Financial District. The move uptown thus represents a back-to-its-roots moment, as the group was founded in Harlem in 1910. Originally, it was called the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes.
This autumn’s opening is pegged, if a bit belatedly in the year, to America’s 250th anniversary. The timing is also significant in that it comes in a moment Mayor Mamdani described as one "when we are being taught as if the words DEI are that of a slur, when in fact what they are is a representation of the fulfillment of the ideals that make so many proud to be New Yorkers.”
Gov. Hochul has expressed a similar sentiment: “This was a project that is so worthwhile, so meaningful, and is a symbol at this moment in time when people are feeling just sort of depressed about life.”
The exterior of the Urban Civil Rights Museum, at 117 W. 125th St.
National Urban League
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Hannah Frishberg
Hannah Frishberg covers New York City arts and culture. Got a tip? Email Hannah at [email protected].
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