Bay Area museums and libraries offer myriad ways to explore Black history and culture, from contemporary art to protest movements. Here’s just a sampling.

African American Museum and Library, Oakland

Housed in Oakland’s former main library, this special reference library is home to 16,000 books by or about African Americans, 70,000 photographs, a rare book collection and an archive of 160 special collections.

“It’s a repository for African American history,” says library assistant Marco Frazier.

In the 1940s, efforts began to collect oral histories and artifacts about African Americans in the Bay Area. The growing collection moved to the Oakland Public Library’s Golden Gate branch in the 1980s and then a public-private partnership with the Northern California Center for Afro-American History in the 1990s.

Visitors view the Festival of Black Dolls exhibit organized by the American Black Beauty Doll Association at the African American Museum and Library in Oakland. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) 

The museum’s current “Visions Toward Tomorrow” exhibit upstairs highlights the history of African American communities in Oakland. But on a recent weekend, the space was taken over by a tribute to Black doll artists. It’s an annual event founded by Karen Oyekanmi, who created the American Black Beauty Doll Association in 1984 to create Black dolls in a positive image for children of color.

Open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday, and from noon to 5:30 p.m. Friday. Frazier offers museum tours at noon on Saturday or by appointment. 659 14th St., Oakland;

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