Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum
MISSION:
National Academic Youth Corps DBA Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum (SOJO) offers programs and services that educate youth, families, and the community about diversity, inclusion, and history by engaging them in hands-on art-making, cultural opportunities, and educational experiences. Our mission is to open minds and change lives through the exploration and celebration of African American history, experiences and culture through art and wellness education and outreach. Our vision is of a world in which the adversity and achievement of African Americans inspire everyone toward a greater understanding of acceptance and unity. The primary goal of (SOJO) is to create a safe and structured creative learning environment for children, young adults, families, and community members from economically disadvantaged
communities.
HISTORY/INFORMATION:
When the doors opened at our current location of 2251 Florin Road in 1996, the museum was opened as a branch of the National Academic Youth Corps (YCorps) DBA Sojo Cultural Arts Center. As our vision evolved so did our name and we became the YCorps DBA Sojourner Truth Multicultural Arts Museum. We achieved non-profit status in 2002, and still did business as a museum under the National Academic Youth Corps umbrella. With the rising awareness of inequities, increasing social and racial unrest, and the lack of cultural programming, we felt the need to fill the gap in offering African diaspora education, we were compelled to update our name to the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum in 2018.
What is most unique about SOJO is that while we are grossly underfunded, we have been successful in bringing the arts to more than 12,000 children from underserved communities of the Greater Sacramento Area annually.