Levine Museum of the New South

Wonderful afternoon learning about Charlotte's history. Free museum that accepts donations. Historical and Educational. Spent about 90 at the museum. Close to many restraunts, shops, stadiums, parking, hotels, and the airport is 8 minutes away.I loved my visit.

This is a small elegant museum, free to enter. It captures the history and evolution of Charlotte and North Carolina pretty well. It's a single floor, takes about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how much time you spend on each topic. Lots of images, maps, explanation of milestone moments for the city and the state that shaped it over centuries. The two key events I remember from visit are Charlotte's role in ending segregation and the city became the a leader in banking world. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Charlotte for the first time.

Good museum to learn about charlotte's history. I wish there are more interactive activities than just post boards with information. Most of items are replicated. Information is really detailed though. I definitely learned something from this trip.

Magnificent free museum. The front desk check-in lady was incredibly flattering, she thought I was actually playing in the Charlotte FC game when she asked why I was in town, and me being in town "for the game" was delightfully read by her as me playing in the game, which was an "I wish" moment. Number of people who think I look like a MLS player that are not my mommy: we're up to one now, but men remember every compliment they receive (most don't get that many) so obviously I will remember this forever.The museum has a large footprint in the building for being an overall relatively small museum. There is a lot of empty floor space which is for vibes I guess, or the Southern deep fried ambiance that you need adequate room to maneuver yourself around the wide open walkways when Bojangles is sufficiently well-loved around these parts. The museum is very similar to the STL Gateway Arch Museum, in terms of set up, focus on limited time periods, lewks, and content depth. This free museum is an introduction to a very interesting, historically rich city that gives you a taste of the history (but isn't a dissertation on every little thing) and gets you excited about the future of the city based on some key moments in modernity. While the state government was very particular about which bathroom you used up until it was repealed in 2020, CLT had originally passed local protections that the state got threatened by and made an international spectacle of for years of high profile constitutional litigation and appeals.If you read somewhat fast you can get through the entire museum in under 30 minutes; it is closer in size to the Bechtler rather than the Mint. It is well situated on S. Tryon (the city so far has resisted the obvious name change to Trigon, for all my Teen Titans bros, bro-ettes, and non-binary brxs) to hop, skip, or frogger across the street to the Bechtler and Mint for further museum experiences nearby. They have weird hours and occasional closure days (put actually tell you about it in advance) so be sure to check their webpage to plan ahead for when you can drop in. The gift shoppe is very small but every purchase helps support the free museum so I picked up a shirt for my next volunteer shift at the food bank this week. When you visit here too I am sure you will want to contribute something (voluntarily) to help support the free museum. That is when you know you have a free museum that actually works as intended.A great place to start to realise why Charlotte is one of my favourite American cities, and it could be one of yours too.

It was just a room with a series of standing exhibits, but I was surprised how much dumb stuff they got in there. It is apparently rotating and topical, and the topic was well within my purview, but I was astonished how shallow and unserious the content was.The boards had a few photographs and made reference to some notable events at many places I've lived and visited, but they were full of vague, yet totalizing statements. Science can't tell you how to do anything, I was told (never mind there's this thing called implementation science). An entire presentation ostensibly devoted to the social issues surrounding environmental pollution made nary a mention of those caused by shifting industries offshore, nor any counterbalancing statement about what the value was of the thing causing the pollution.There wasn't much there to be worth my time and no restrooms, but I generously award them a second star based on the fact that they didn't charge me anything. I gather based on some pictures and reviews that there may be other exhibitions either in this building or somewhere else nearby, but what I saw left me with little desire to engage any further.

Bottom Line: A terrific museum telling the history of the southeast after the Civil War.On a random weekend trip to Charlotte my husband and I decided to visit the Levine Museum of the New South. I was very excited that they were able to reopen during the pandemic and as their website suggests we purchased tickets online for a late Friday afternoon time slot. This museum is so well done and we both really enjoyed it! Our visit started by being greeted by a very friendly employee, scanning our electronic tickets and then we went back into time to the 1860s.The main exhibit is located on the ground floor and is called Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers. There are also rotating exhibits on the second floor that are more specific to Charlotte's history. The main floor also has a small gift shop. The Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers exhibit was so well done! We enjoyed all four sections and I appreciate how nicely they flowed to tell the story of the new south - the good, the bad and the very ugly. 1. Farming Transformed focuses on the 1860s to 1920s and is about the role of tenet farmers and sharecroppers post Civil War. I really enjoyed seeing the cotton mill and gaining a better understanding of how it worked. This exhibit also discusses reconstruction from the war.2. Farming Transformed seamlessly moves into a module about Bringing Mills to Cotton during the 1880s to 1930s. I like getting to better understand what it was like inside of a mill and mill town and learning about the well-known brands that were milled nearby. And I loved the two-sided train layout that picked up cotton from the farmers on one side (viewable from the Farming Transformed exhibit) and delivered it to the mill on the other side (viewable in the Bringing Mills to Cotton exhibit). Brilliant!3. I was excited to walk down the "Main Street" of the third section about urbanization. It covers the 1940s to 1970s and is called We Shall Overcome. As you stroll through you hear streetcar bells clanging and can visit businesses like Belk, the appliance store, the barber shop and the theater. In this section I really enjoyed sitting at the lunch counter and hearing first-hand stories from those brave people who participated in sit-ins. 4. The fourth and final section is called Whirlwind of Growth and covers the 1970s to today. It is largely about the rise of the banking industry in Charlotte and the expanding diversity of the population. I enjoyed seeing the early addition ATM machine with a "closed" sign on it and the display of foods popular from the five major cultural groups that live in Charlotte.All of these exhibits highlight both the prosperity of the new south as well as the many struggles. While we spent most of our time in the Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers exhibit we did also visit the more local exhibits upstairs and the gift shop. We visited during the pandemic and appreciated the touchless check in and the hand sanitization stations throughout. We also got super lucky and were one of only a handful of people in the museum so we really got to immerse ourselves in the exhibits and take our time. Some of the hands-on exhibits were unavailable like using phone headsets to listen to narration and practicing carding cotton. But the museum still has so much to offer that it didn't detract from the overall experience. Visiting this museum was definitely one of our favorite things about Charlotte!

I had my doubts about visiting a museum that celebrates the South but my hesitation was quickly diminished as I toured the Museum. From the outside of the museum, you'll see that they put a lot of effort into making it modern, architectural stunning and inviting to all that visit. Before visiting I made sure to purchase my tickets ahead of time because it's recommended and I didn't want to take any chances. The price of admission is very inexpensive for all that the museum has to offer. They also have tiered pricing for all income levels so there is no excuse not to visit.Levine Museum starts it's journey from the end of the Civil War to modern day Charlotte. The museum is well organized and laid out perfectly with interactive and immersive exhibits. The museum tells the true story of the South, the good, the bad (segregation, racism and slavery) and the unsung heroes who made Charlotte what it is today. Some of the exhibits are hard to view but is our history and it's told with honesty. Levine has done a great job of representing all people that made up the old South and told the stories with reverence. Be prepared to spend as much time as possible here because you really do get immersed in all that this museum has to offer. It goes without saying that the staff here are very helpful, knowledgeable and caring. As I listened to some of the tour guides, I could tell that that have a great passion for this museum and the history that it represents. I highly recommend visiting if you are a resident of Charlotte or if you're visiting then please bookmark Levine Museum for your future visit. Charlotte is very fortunate to have this museum to teach current and future generations about our history.

Just wanted to let everybody know that they moved places so that's why there's only a single room now until they find a place and set everything back up. It's usually a nice walk-around place (so what you're seeing now with the single room, you guys missed out on how informative and cool the place was before ). Hopefully they settle at a location soon! For more information, just ask the people at the front. I asked because I took my parents and thought it was weird that it wasn't next to Imaginon anymore and that it was just one room. Hope this helps!

The theme "From Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers" is an interactive, disturbing, and motivating look at Charlotte from 1865 to now. It is a candid display on how slavery, poverty, and labor shaped our area through reform, innovation, and economic opportunities.While much of the vignettes rightly focus on African-American injustices, it also includes the harsh realities of extreme poverty, and how demand, risk, protest, technology, religion--along with civil rights--ultimately pressured positive change.The early 20th century Spanish philosopher, George Santayana penned, "those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." With division, friction, and inequality still remarkably prevalant, you should go. Breath it all in. Interact. Wonder. Contemplate. Learn. Remember. Change.Way up on my "Give it a whirl" meter.

Single room museum with small collection. I do recommend people take the time to support this museum.