The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum hosted it first Black History Bowl in 2019.  The Bowl, the brain child of board member Gail Simpson was created to address the lack of history taught in schools and to increase the general knowledge of significant contributions made by African Americans throughout history.

The opportunity for local high school students to study and compete against one another for certificates of participation, trophies, bragging rights and a traveling trophy in honor of one of the founding members - Rudy Davenport - has been an invaluable and worthwhile experience.  For the last two years  Lanphier has taken top honors, but due to COVID a new champion will reign supreme in 2021.

Carolyn Farrar the current Board President has enthusiastically joined in as the resident score keeper, with Kathryn Harris - a central Illinois history maker serving as the timekeeper. Dr. Kamau Kamayo has been the moderator and enjoys interacting with the students.  There are two rounds, the preliminary is  held a month prior to the final round.  District 186 administrators and Superintendent Gill have been extremely supportive of the efforts by the AAHM.