Inside the Museum of Black Women and Girls: A Free Community Museum in Los Angeles

A Free Museum Celebrating Black Women and Girls | A.C. Bilbrew Library, Los Angeles

A.C. Bilbrew Library, Black Resource Center | Open through September 2026

Giving flowers means honoring someone now. Not when it is convenient. Not eventually. Now, while they can feel it.

That spirit lives at the heart of The Museum of Black Women and Girls: The Field of Beauty and Brilliance, now open at the A C Bilbrew Library Black Resource Center in Los Angeles.

Created by the California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute (CABWCEI), this free community exhibit celebrates the stories, leadership, creativity, and lasting contributions of Black women and girls. Through art, literature, history, and opportunities for community participation, the exhibit preserves stories that deserve to be remembered and invites visitors to become part of that legacy.

Every gallery, book, timeline, and oral history reflects the beauty, brilliance, resilience, and impact of Black women and girls across generations. As you explore the exhibit, you'll discover remarkable stories, contribute your own if you choose, and experience a living archive that continues to grow with the community it celebrates.

Here is what you'll discover inside.

What You Will Find Inside

As you move through the museum, each space offers another way of giving flowers to Black women whose stories deserve to be remembered, celebrated, and carried forward.

The HerStory Gallery

A curated collection honoring Black women leaders: local, statewide, historical, and present. The gallery features women such as Vice President Kamala Harris, activist and scholar Angela Davis, and tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams, alongside community leaders whose work has shaped California and beyond. Each portrait and story is a deliberate act of naming and celebrating a woman whose work deserves to be seen. Who built something. Who changed something. Who is still building and changing right now.

The Timeline Wall

A visual journey tracing the history of Black women across California from early pioneers through today's changemakers: their contributions to civic life, culture, education, labor, art, and advocacy across generations. The timeline is a reminder that this work has always been here, even when it was not always recognized. Visitors often leave surprised by how much they did not know, and proud of how much has always been true.

The Community Book Club: Reading Along All Summer

Two anchor books sit at the center of the museum, selected for the California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute community book club running alongside the exhibit all summer. Each book is paired with a community activation: a way to gather, engage, and bring the reading to life together.

Book 1: It's Not All Downhill From Here by Terry McMillan

Terry McMillan's novel follows Lola, a 68-year-old Black woman navigating loss, reinvention, and the full richness of a life still unfolding. It is funny, honest, and deeply human: a story that centers a Black woman in the second half of her life and insists that there is still so much ahead.

Community Activation: Paint and Chat | Saturday, July 25 | 4 PM - 7 PM

Join the community at A.C. Bilbrew Library for a Paint and Chat activation inspired by McMillan's themes of joy, resilience, and showing up fully for yourself. Come with your thoughts on the book. Leave with something you made.

Book 2: The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs

Anna Malaika Tubbs tells the true story of Berdis Baldwin, Louise Little, and Alberta King: the mothers of James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Their names have long been missing from the history books their sons helped shape. Tubbs puts them back. This book is an act of giving flowers to women who were there all along.

Community Activation: Gardening | Saturday, August 22 | 4 PM - 7 PM

The August activation pairs Tubbs's themes of nurturing, legacy, and growing something that outlasts you with a hands-on gardening experience. A natural fit for a book about women who planted seeds they never saw fully bloom.

Book 3: Coming September 2026

[Title, author, and book description to be confirmed.]

Community Activation: [Activation TBD] | Saturday, September 19 | 4 PM - 7 PM

[Activation description to be added when details are confirmed.]

The Living Archive: Oral History Station

Most museums preserve artifacts. This one preserves voices.

Three scheduled opportunities are available for community members to record their stories in audio format, with prompts designed to be accessible and affirming across multiple languages. Your story, on your terms.

Your story on your terms. Preserved through the California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute and LA County Library for the community to carry forward.

You can also participate online from wherever you are. Oral History Station Link: Submit Your Story

The Museum of Black Women and Girls is not just an exhibit. It is an invitation to be witnessed.

Rooted in Community

The Museum of Black Women and Girls is a collaboration between the California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute and LA County Library, made possible with support from Supervisor Holly Mitchell's office and the 2nd District community.

The exhibit lives at A.C. Bilbrew Library's Black Resource Center, a space that already belongs to this community. That is not incidental. It is the point.

Who Should Visit?

Whether you are discovering these stories for the first time or reconnecting with your own history, the Museum of Black Women and Girls welcomes everyone. This museum was built for:

Families and children

Students and educators

Book lovers and reading communities

Community organizations and advocates

History enthusiasts

Anyone who believes Black women's stories deserve to be seen, celebrated, and carried forward

Plan Your Visit: Public Viewing Hours

The Museum of Black Women and Girls: The Field of Beauty and Brilliance is open to the public through September 2026. Admission is free.

Wednesdays: 12 PM – 6 PM

Select Saturdays: 4 PM – 7 PM

Upcoming Saturday Dates:

July 25 | August 22 | September 19

Location:

A.C. Bilbrew Library, Black Resource Center, Los Angeles

Come Give Your Flowers

If you have been waiting for a reason to visit, this is it. The exhibit was built for this community and you belong in it.

Some museums ask you to observe history. This one invites you to become part of it.

Visit.

Read.

Record your story.

Give your flowers.

Join the community book club and read alongside your people. Come to the Paint and Chat in July or the gardening activation in August. Add your voice to the living archive, in person or online. Come give your flowers to the women who built the ground you are standing on.

A Free Museum Celebrating Black Women and Girls | A.C. Bilbrew Library, Los Angeles

A.C. Bilbrew Library, Black Resource Center

Open through September 2026

Wednesdays 12–6 PM | Select Saturdays 4–7 PM

[ Link to Exhibit Landing Page ]