The history of Fort Monroe National Monument spans nearly 4 centuries. In 1619, a group of enslaved Africans were brought to the site, the first enslaved people to arrive in British-occupied North America. During the Civil War, the historic fort, also known as “Freedom’s Fortress,” was a destination for enslaved people seeking to liberate themselves. Visitors today can enjoy walking the grounds and learning more about the site’s complex history at the park’s visitor and education center.

One of the best-known “conductors” of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman self-emancipated and dedicated her life to fighting for human rights . Harriet Tubman National Historical Park commemorates her life’s work, including her advocacy for women’s suffrage and her establishment of the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged. Today, you can explore the landscape of Tubman’s later years, including the Home for the Aged and the grounds of her residence.

The Lincoln Memorial is part of the NPS’s African American Civil Rights Network as the nation’s memorial to President Lincoln and his legacy. The site has served as the backdrop for some of the most significant demonstrations for racial justice, including the 1939 performance by opera singer Marian Anderson and the conclusion of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

In search of a life free from persecution and oppression in post-Civil War America, a group of African Americans traveled to Kansas to establish the first and only remaining Black settlement west of the Mississippi River, now preserved as Nicodemus National Historic Site. During Reconstruction, an estimated 20,000 African Americans known as "Exodusters” moved from the South to Kansas and other Western states, and many formerly enslaved people still faced discrimination in the South.

Frederick Douglass self-emancipated in 1838 and quickly became a leading figure in the abolition and suffrage movements. A talented orator, writer, and abolitionist, Douglass spoke and wrote about his experience as an enslaved person. During the Civil War, he worked tirelessly to ensure emancipation would be one of the war’s outcomes. In 1872, Douglass and his family moved to a home in Washington, D.C., now preserved as Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

The Reconstruction Era marks the period after the Civil War when the U.S. grappled with how to integrate emancipated African Americans into existing social, political, and labor systems. Reconstruction Era National Historical Park seeks to tell national, regional, and local stories of the time. Visitors can take tours of downtown Beaufort and explore Camp Saxton, where the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the men of the 1st South Carolina Infantry, along with other formerly enslaved people.

Preserving roughly two dozen sites on the north face of Boston’s Beacon Hill, Boston African American National Historic Site is comprised of the largest area of pre-Civil War Black-owned structures in the U.S. These historic buildings were the homes, businesses, schools, and churches of a thriving community that fought the forces of slavery and inequality. Boston also played an integral role in the Underground Railroad. Today, visitors can explore these historic places.

Honoring Harriet Tubman’s early life as an enslaved person in Maryland as well as her years assisting others along the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park preserves the landscapes that Tubman used to carry herself and others to freedom. Visitors can explore exhibits, a research library, interpretive programs, and more at the park, located in the farm fields, creeks, and marshes of Dorchester Country, Maryland.

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in 1856, on a tobacco plantation now preserved as Booker T. Washington National Monument. Washington lived there with his family until the end of the Civil War in 1865, which he later wrote about in autobiographies and essays. In 1881, Washington was named the first president of the Tuskegee Institute, building the school’s reputation and recognition. Visitors can explore reconstructed outbuildings, an 1890 tobacco barn, walking trails, and more.