As Petersburg’s African American History and Cultural Center, the McKenney Building will become a vital community hub again.
The Center will offer workshops on caring for family records and photographs, launch oral history initiatives to capture first-person accounts of recent history, host talks on local history and culture, genealogy seminars, and local history programs for students of all ages.
The Center will showcase rotating exhibits that highlight the history of African-American residents in Petersburg. These exhibits will cover various subject such as the free-black community before the Civil War, urban slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement and modern accomplishments. The exhibits will aim to provide a comprehensive look at the struggles, triumphs and progress of Petersburg’s African-American community. Through these displays viewers can gain a deeper understanding of the city’s rich cultural heritage.