New York People and Cultures

Discover your own heritage and get acquainted with many others at museums, cultural sites, festivals, and parades that explore the history and honor the traditions of the people who have shaped New York State. 

Hear ancient legends from Native American storytellers at the Iroquois Museum in Howe’s Cave and explore life in a longhouse at Seneca Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca.

Glimpse what life was like for immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries at the Tenement Museum in Manhattan and immerse yourself in the traditions of Irish, Italian, Slovakian, and Welsh immigrants at the Slate Valley Museum in Granville.

El Museo del Barrio, located in Midtown Manhattan’s Museum Mile, showcases Caribbean and Latino culture, while the Jacques Marchais Museum on Staten Island explores Tibetan art and traditions. Learn about the fight for freedom at Underground Railroad sites life the home of Harriet Tubman and discover the Brooklyn village of Weeksville, which was a free African American community in the 19th century.

Attend lively cultural celebrations like Buffalo's Juneteenth Festival—the largest of its kind, Cape Vincent’s French Festival, Lunar New Year festivities in New York City’s Chinatown, and Albany’s Tulip Festival honoring the state’s early Dutch heritage with over 100,000 colorful blossoms.