History:
Established in 1966 as a division of the Race Relations Department on the campus of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Amistad Research Center was incorporated in 1969 as a nonprofit manuscripts library for historical research. Amistad moved to Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1970. The center has made its home at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana since 1987.

Mission:
As the nation's largest independent archives specializing in the history of African Americans and other ethnic groups, the Amistad Research Center is dedicated to preserving America's ethnic heritage by providing a home to the manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, books, periodicals and works of art that contain the history of peoples, of nations, of beliefs and dreams, of a past worth sharing with the future.

Governance and administration:
Amistad is a 501(c)(3) organization with a 24-member Board of Directors and a membership comprised of several hundred individuals and organizations.

Physical facilities:
Amistad occupies 11,500 sq. ft. of Tilton Memorial Hall, Tulane University.

Audiences Served:
Among Amistad's diverse visitors are scholarly researchers from the U.S. and abroad, public and parochial school tours, area college and university students, elementary and secondary school teachers enrolled in summer workshops, participants in the ongoing public humanities lectures and art exhibitions and a constant flow of tourists.

Measures of Success:
Copious citations in articles, books, film productions researched at the Center; Amistad's numerous collaborative partners; increasing tour requests; news coverage of Center events; and recent grant awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and a National Leadership Award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.