Membership Brochure

We’re vibrant. Renewed. Distinguished. All of the things that make membership rewarding and fun. Since 1990, the African-American Heritage Society has brought an array of artists, scholars and historians in to the Pensacola community to celebrate African-American cultural heritage. Through our quality programs, we continue to offer retrospective exhibits, performance and educational lectures which cover a broad spectrum of African-American traditions.

Uniquely, the Society has renewed its belief that we should preserve and promote the rich diversity of the African-American experience in all we do. Membership is extended to all who believe that inclusiveness, collaboration and education of the African-American spirit can be enjoyed by all! Join us and grow with us!

Images In Black – Pictorial history of Blacks in Pensacola from the 1500’s to present

The African-American Heritage Society and the editor made every effort to include as many black Pensacola residents and their accomplishment in this pictorial history as possible. More than 150 letters were mailed to individuals and churches, and announcements were placed in local newspapers and on radio and television to reach those not included in the mail out.

From the beginning, even before the official beginning, blacks entered Pensacola’s history. Before Don Tristan de Luna and his men arrived in 1559, a black man under the domination of his master, a Spanish conquistador, sailed into Pensacola’s fabled harbor. Blacks were here with de Luna, de Arriola, and Galvez; and with their relatively humane masters, produced a unique culture.

“WOULD AMERICA HAVE BEEN AMERICA WITHOUT HER NEGRO PEOPLE.” W.E.B Dubois – The Souls of Black Folks

When Black Folks Was Colored - Set of Four Anthologies of local writers

In the stories, poems, and vignettes of these volumes, descendants give personal testimonies of the will of a strong people to resist, survive and succeed. Resistance against external bondage brought losses of life, losses of personal identity, and for many, a loss of culture. Periods of apparent acquiescence were endured for the sake of survival in an unjust system, but these were accompanied by efforts on their part to be rid of mistreatment and benign neglect.

“TRUTH PRESSED TO EARTH WILL RISE AGAIN … NO LIE CAN LAST FOREVER.” Martin Luther King, Jr.