The collections of the Museum were begun to instill a pride of ethnic identity and knowledge of world cultures and today the museum holds more than 9,000 objects representing cultures and people from around the world.
Galleries are dedicated to African-American, African, Native-American, and Asian and Pacific art and artifacts. Notable are Kuba objects from the Republic of the Congo; also more than 1,500 pieces of African American art, including artists from the Harlem Renaissance into the early 1960s, as well as contemporary artists.
The Museum holds the largest existing collection of works by John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and Samella Lewis.