African American Travel
The impact of African-American heritage can be found all around National Harbor. Learn the local history and celebrate great artists and business owners.
HOME BASE
Make National Harbor your home base. Take the Old Town Trolley Tours to downtown DC where you’ll be able to get off and on at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, along with other Smithsonian museums.
A LAYERED HISTORY AT MOUNT VERNON
Explore the history of the enslaved community at George Washington’s estate. Learn about the daily lives of the enslaved on “The Enslaved People of Mount Vernon Tour,” and see more than 350 items inside the museum exhibit “Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.” Tributes at the estate’s Slave Memorial are held daily.
SUPPORT BLACK OWNED BUSINESS
The Waterfront District has 13 restaurants and stores that are black owned and there are another 2 at Tanger Outlets National Harbor. Grab a beer at The Brass Tap from Mark and Sharon, check out African made fashion from Ethiopian born Abai at ZAAF Collection, and enjoy naturally derived bath and body products from Bobby and Shaun at BrookieGirl.
LOCALLY RENOWNED ARTISTS
Sam Gilliam, a pillar of the Washington, D.C. modern and contemporary art communities and internationally acclaimed abstract painter as well as local large scale sculptor and Prince George’s County resident Martha Jackson Jarvis all of have public art on display at MGM National Harbor. Guests in the Waterfront District can enjoy four pieces depicting Maryland life by local artist Cheryl Foster.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS DRIVING TOUR
Discover the real Frederick Douglass in the places that shaped him into the abolitionist, leader, writer, orator and great thinker he became. The tour begins with his deep roots while enslaved on the Eastern Shore and continues with his education, empowerment and taste of freedom in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. End the tour at the Frederick Douglass statue on American Way in National Harbor.