Idaho Black History Museum — Attraction in Boise

As a person of color and a first time visitor to Idaho, I was very excited to visit the museum-this is the ONE thing I wanted to do during my week in Idaho. I even sent an email to confirm the hours of operation. I visited on May 8th and... well... This was an incredible disappointment and by far the worst part of my trip. I feel bad about writing this. The museum is free, easy to access, and very pretty from the outside. Inside there are panels and exhibits about Black History in general but very minimal (dare I say scant) information about Black people in Idaho. How is this possible? Of the 10 exhibits in the museum, only the first is about Black people in Idaho. The rest are about Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, and MLK. That's it. This information is common knowledge - where's the history specific to Idaho? I'm glad to see that there is a place in the state that promotes Black history but it lacks so much. There's a marker outside of the museum that was donated by the Treasure Valley chapter of the NAACP but absolutely nothing about the chapter inside. This is a missed opportunity. Lastly, when my partner and I arrived, the museum attendant (docent?) never spoke to me or said a word of welcome. There were two yt women visiting at the same time, and he bent over backwards to answer their questions and cater to their needs. Never said a word to me - the only other person of color in the room. However, after overhearing the conversation he was having, I'm glad he didn't speak to me. To paraphrase 3000, 'everybody with dreads..' I will be back in Idaho, but I will never...

It is supposed to be opened on Wednesdays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays between 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. I came here on Wednesday at 10:50 am. It was locked. The days and times are already so limited, but to come here and for it not to be opened is extremely disrespectful to Black people and Black history. Is Idaho really that racist for them not to invest the overdue nesscary time, money, and energy to open its doors to Black history and teach their people about Black people so they should not be racist? I am both very surprised and shocked while disappointmented at this occurrence. As humans we should always constantly be improving ourselves for the future of humanity as a whole. This is inexcusable and threatens the safety of Black people who do live here. Black history should respected, invested, cared for for all time. Demand change for this museum to open on more days and longer amounts of time and to encourage the public to continue coming here. Donate if you can because clearly this city doesn't care about...

I don’t like reviewing places I haven’t been to myself, but the photos of this place stopped me from taking a detour on my route to visit this place. I don’t know how to describe this as anything but an insult to civil rights as a whole and black people in particular. The fact that it’s free to visit and open to the public is something, and I’m sure the people who run this museum are truly trying – but this is not even close to what it should be. I’m almost surprised any such museum exists in the state of idaho and I shouldn’t be surprised that this is what it is. I’m just extremely disappointed — the overall lack of resources and any real attempt to put African-Americans the center of their own story is starkly evident, and...