Founded in 1955, the San Francisco African American Historical & Cultural Society has facilities at Fort Mason and on Fulton Street.

The Fort Mason facility includes a museum, art gallery, and gift shop, with the museum's permanent exhibition featuring artifacts and archival materials on African-American life and culture from the 19th century to the present. The gallery showcases works by new and master artists of African descent. Exhibits have included photogravures of Carl Van Vechten's photos of heroes of the Harlem Renaissance, and a photographic retrospective on the last five years of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Howard Thurman Listening Room, located at the Society's 762 Fulton Street location, is a quiet room for listening to the taped lectures of Howard Thurman, speeches by African-American leaders, and musical compositions by local, national, and international African-American artists.