Few museums show the North's Civil Rights Movement. A new one in Harlem is ‘just getting started’

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Urban League will open a museum this weekend in Harlem dedicated to the civil rights struggles in the North, the first of its kind in New York City.

Located in the Urban League’s Manhattan headquarters, the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem explores the region's lesser-known histories of the Civil Rights Movement and the local changemakers and artists whose contributions helped shape politics and culture worldwide. With nearly 12,000 square feet (1,100 square meters) of permanent and rotating exhibits and galleries, organizers say they hope to remind visitors of their “collective power” in the present.

“We want people to know that they are key participants,” Jennifer Scott, the museum’s founding executive director and chief curator, told The Associated Press during an exclusive preview of the space.

“History is living, it’s unfinished, and we can impact it,” she said.

Scott is a national public history scholar with experience preserving Black history in museums and research centers across the country. She led the design of a permanent interactive installation and an inaugural set of rotating exhibitions.

Marc Morial, the Urban League’s president and CEO, underscored the importance of establishing the museum just blocks from such key historic and cultural landmarks as the Apollo Theater and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He attributed the same intentionality to the naming of the museum, and its specific mention of “this iconic American place called Harlem.”

“Designating this the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem anchors it to a place, and this place tells the story,” Morial told the AP before the museum’s opening. “From this place, we’re telling the story of this place.”

Dozens of museums devoted to civil rights are scattered across the U.S., most of them in Southern states. While others explore themes of arts and culture or review specific moments in African American history, the organizers contend that there has never been a premiere civil rights museum located in the northern United States.

The museum’s multimedia installations cover centuries of social justice history and culture. The inaugural exhibits recount the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the first and second waves of the Great Migration of Black families from the Deep South, and the story of the Civil Rights Movement and its modern impacts.

In several exhibits, audio recordings relay speeches of civil rights leaders and oral histories of people interviewed about their experiences. Feedback walls invite guests to share if they’ve participated in a protest or read a banned book.

Throughout the museum’s curation process, Scott prioritized immersion not only through mediums but through the stories that the Urban League chose to represent. “We wanted people to see themselves,” she said. “It’s a very diasporic representation and storytelling approach.”

As a self-described proponent of intersectional solidarity, Morial echoed the importance of celebrating a diverse range of perspectives from people who rallied alongside African Americans in the northern fight for civil rights.

“We don’t want this great concept, equal opportunity and diversity, to be suppressed,” he said.

Some of the narratives displayed have been targeted in recent years as part of a push to sanitize the way American history is told. Last year, the Trump administration ordered a review of U.S. museums under federal guidance for narratives it deemed “divisive, race-centered ideology,” urging them to “instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

Martha Biondi, a professor of history and Black studies at Northwestern University whose work has advanced the awareness of New York's civil rights struggles, underscored the importance of preserving that history today.

“If America’s going to become a true multiracial democracy, we have to stop sanitizing our past and we have to tell the true stories,” Biondi said.

The importance of preserving the urban Civil Rights Movement was compounded by the current political climate, said Morial, adding that the museum retells history “with all of its beauty, and with all of its warts.”

“This history is not going to be minimalized or suppressed in any way,” he said.

Morial and Scott lamented how the history of institutionalized racism in the North has often been overshadowed or even lost, while stories of the struggles in the Deep South are far more widely recognized.

For Scott, preserving forgotten accounts as part of the historical record is a personal passion and a priority. From reliving the prime of nightlife in the Harlem Renaissance, to reading through legacy ethnic media like the New York Amsterdam News alongside Jet and Essence magazines, she said, the museum is “just scratching the surface” in uncovering local stories.

“It’s important to me and to all of us here who work at the museum, because we don’t want those stories to be erased ever again,” Scott said. “It started long before us, and we want it to continue after, so people are always feeling empowered to create the change that they desire.”

The Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem will celebrate its grand opening with invited elected officials and other guests, on Saturday, Nov. 14. With plans to educate and involve the community in the museum’s programming, Morial was optimistic about both the future of the museum and of the movement it showcases.

“This museum is not static, and we’re going to continue to evolve the exhibitions,” he said. “We are just getting started.”

A photo of Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, is on display at the Urban Civil Rights Museum, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A Black Lives Matter sign is on display at the Urban Civil Rights Museum, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The Urban Civil Rights Museum is seen on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The Urban Civil Rights Museum is seen on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A bust of Eugene Kinckle Jones, a leader of the National Urban League, is seen at the Urban Civil Rights Museum, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jennifer Scott, executive director and chief curator of the Urban Civil Rights Museum, poses for a photo Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The Urban Civil Rights Museum is seen on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

People walk past the Urban Civil Rights Museum on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

SEATTLE (AP) — A week after an improbable comeback win, Minshew Magic vanished against Seattle.

Gardner Minshew and the Arizona Cardinals couldn’t repeat the formula that worked against the Dallas Cowboys and their porous defense, when Minshew took over for the struggling Jacoby Brissett in the third quarter, threw three touchdown passes and led Arizona to a 33-30 overtime victory.

Arizona promptly named Minshew its starting QB and traded Brissett to Baltimore. But Minshew and the Cardinals were shut down all day in a 17-3 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday, Arizona's 11th straight setback against Seattle.

“Frustrating, obviously,” Minshew said. “Word to describe the whole day.”

Minshew completed 21 of 30 passes for 166 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Seattle sacked him three times and pressured him constantly.

The Cardinals finished with 198 yards of offense and were 4 for 13 on third down. Coach Mike LaFleur didn't blame the veteran QB.

“It was a collective effort to only score three points,” LaFleur said.

Minshew earned a reputation for dramatic, unexpected wins early in his career. On Sunday, he took Arizona into the red zone just twice.

Arizona kicked a field goal on its first series. Later, trailing by 14 with over four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Minshew drove the Cardinals to Seattle’s 2, but his pass to Trey McBride on fourth down fell incomplete.

“We were a little bit off, one way or another on a lot of our plays,” Minshew said. “And against a good team like that, you're not going to have that many chances.”

With Brissett now preparing to start for the Ravens, rookie Carson Beck is Minshew's backup.

Beck, drafted in the third round, has yet to play a snap for Arizona. LaFleur was asked if he considered putting Beck into the game.

“No,” LaFleur said.

The 30-year-old Minshew signed a $5.75 million, one-year deal with Arizona after spending last season as a backup in Kansas City. He replaced the injured Patrick Mahomes in Week 16 but suffered a season-ending knee injury on the third play of the game.

A Pro Bowl selection in 2023 with the Indianapolis Colts, Minshew has a 17-31 record as a starter.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Gardner Minshew II, center, gets hit as he throws by Seattle Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori (3) as Seahawks defensive tackle Byron Murphy II (91) looks on during an NFL football game in Seattle, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Ng)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Gardner Minshew II (15) pauses on the field prior to an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Ng)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Gardner Minshew II, right, gets hit as he throws by Seattle Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori (3) during an NFL football game in Seattle, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Ng)