City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Address: 135 Auburn Ave. NE

Description: The APEX (African-American Panoramic Experience) Museum is housed in a small building beside the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History and across the street from the headquarters of the Atlanta Life Insurance Co. Eventually, plans call for the museum to have its own specially designed 90,000-square-foot facility on this site; its different sections will spotlight African-American achievement in various areas of endeavor such as politics, entertainment, and sports. The present facility includes a replica of an Atlanta streetcar where visitors sit to watch a film, with narration by Julian Bond and a dramatic reading by Cicely Tyson, that tells of Auburn Avenue’s rich history as a center of black commerce and culture. Exhibits of African and slavery-era artifacts occupy the museum’s main room along with a replica of Yates & Milton, a black-owned drugstore that originated on Auburn and eventually had four Atlanta locations. Among other items, the gift shop offers a reasonably priced and fascinating pictorial history book, Sweet Auburn: Street of Pride, published by the museum. Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for students and seniors; free for children under 4. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.