A Message from Chief Executive Officer Desmond Bertrand-Pitts
Dear Friends,
The week following our Juneteenth @160 celebration from June 19-21, will be the last time our doors are open to the general public before we temporarily close for major renovations in July 2025.
This moment marks a turning point in our journey, a year of transformation, preservation, and deeper community connection. That’s why our Juneteenth @160 events are not only a powerful tribute to Black liberation and military legacy, they’ll also serve as our final in-person experience before we begin this next chapter. We hope you will join us for this unforgettable milestone.
Thanks to a $1.25 million gift from the Kinder Foundation, bringing their total support to $3.5 million, our Ready & Forward Capital Campaign is gaining remarkable momentum. These funds will allow us to renovate our historic 1925 home, expand accessibility, and design innovative exhibitions that reflect the full breadth of African American military service.
From July 2025 through Summer 2026, the museum will be temporarily closed to the public. We will continue to engage our community through off-site exhibitions, digital programming, and collaborations with Houston’s vibrant cultural institutions. Following Juneteenth, we will host an Immigration Forum with FIEL Houston on July 14 and a Buffalo Soldier Day book talk on July 16. These events are opportunities to gather, reflect, and stay connected before our physical transformation begins.
During this time, our education, exhibitions, and archive teams will be hard at work, focusing on:
- Updating content for historical accuracy and inclusivity
- Developing new K-12 curriculum and in-school programming
- Creating traveling exhibitions across Houston and at HBCUs nationwide
- Growing our oral history collection to amplify underrepresented voices
- Deepening our partnerships, especially with Spanish-speaking communities
We are building a future where the stories we tell are even more inclusive, accessible, and impactful for generations to come.
Stay connected and learn more about our upcoming events here. Sign up for our newsletter, follow us on social media, and join us in this journey as we march forward, ready for what’s next.
With gratitude and vision,
Desmond Bertrand Pitts
Chief Executive Officer, Buffalo Soldiers National Museum
