African American History

Hank Aaron (center) poses with his teammates in this 1956 photograph by Osvaldo Salas.

Smithsonian Scholars Reflect on Baseball Legend Hank Aaron's Legacy

The former home run king died in his sleep on Friday at age 86

Gordon Parks, Boy With June Bug, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1963

Gordon Parks' Photos of 20th-Century Black Americans Are More Relevant Than Ever

An exhibition at NYC's Jack Shainman Gallery underscores the contemporary resonance of the photographer's work

Robert S. Duncanson's Landscape With Rainbow (1859) “carries with it an unmistakable ray of hope,” per the Los Angeles Times. “Rainbows typically appear after a storm has passed, not before.”

Smithsonian Curator Reflects on Joe Biden's 'Poignant' Inaugural Painting

Eleanor Harvey posits that the 1859 landscape's message of hope resonated with First Lady Jill Biden, who helped select the artwork

Gorman's inaugural poem contains lines stating “But while democracy can be periodically delayed / It can never be permanently defeated.”

Meet Amanda Gorman, the U.S.' Youngest Inaugural Poet

The 22-year-old revised her original composition, "The Hill We Climb," in the aftermath of the January 6 storming of the Capitol

Artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons spearheaded the creation of When We Gather, a three-minute short film marking Harris' inauguration.

How Seven Women Artists Are Celebrating Kamala Harris' Historic Inauguration

The group's upcoming short film, titled "When We Gather," honors the achievements of women who preceded the vice president

Last June, protesters threw a statue of British slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol Harbor. A salvage team recovered the sculpture the following day.

Proposed Legislation Seeks to 'Protect' the U.K.'s Controversial Monuments

If passed, the new measure would make it more difficult for local councils to remove statues of polarizing historical figures

A rendering of by Hank Willis Thomas' The Embrace, a public memorial set to be unveiled in the Boston Commons in October 2022

Monument to Coretta Scott and MLK Is Coming to Boston, City Where They Met

Hank Willis Thomas' sculpture of intertwined arms will memorialize the civil rights leaders and their fight for racial equality

Based on newly discovered and declassified files, the film MLK/FBI by the acclaimed Emmy Award winning director Sam Pollard, tells the story of the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of King.

A New Film Details the FBI's Relentless Pursuit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Smithsonian scholar says the time is ripe to examine the man's complexities for a more accurate and more inspirational history

The film fictionalizes the night that Cassius Clay (seated, wearing a bow tie) became the world's heavyweight boxing champion. Three of his friends—Malcolm X (holding a camera at far left), Jim Brown (standing with his hand on Clay's shoulder) and Sam Cooke (raising a glass to the right of Clay)—joined the young athlete for a post-fight celebration.

The True History Behind 'One Night in Miami'

Regina King's directorial debut dramatizes a 1964 meeting between Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown

Kamala Harris wears her signature pearls as she accepts the vice-presidential nomination at the August 2020 virtual Democratic National Convention broadcast from Wilmington, Deleware.

Why Kamala Harris' Pearls Have a Special Significance

The vice president-elect's ties to her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, run deep, and her jewelry lets that shine

“A key tenet of ... constitutional democracy is the peaceful transfer of power following U.S. presidential elections, dating back to the republic’s first presidential election,” said Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in a statement. “This week, that core belief was shaken.”

How the Smithsonian and Other Museums Are Responding to the U.S. Capitol Riot

Leading institutions have started collecting artifacts and working to contextualize last week's violent attack

None

From His Tattered Chair, TV's Archie Bunker Caricatured America's Divides

The 1971 show aired the fraught political differences that were "All in the Family"

Activists toppled and defaced Edward Valentine's statue of Jefferson Davis during Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond last summer.

Why a Virginia Museum Wants to Display a Defaced Sculpture of Jefferson Davis

"Actually bringing that statue back to the spot where it was created has a unique power to it," says the Valentine's director

This month's book picks include Icebound, A Shot in the Moonlight and The Eagles of Heart Mountain.

A Doomed Arctic Expedition, Number-Free Math and Other New Books to Read

These five January releases may have been lost in the news cycle

An illustration of the British burning Washington in 1814

The History of Violent Attacks on the U.S. Capitol

While the building has seen politically motivated mayhem in the past, never before has a mob of insurrectionists tried to overturn a presidential election

(Top row) Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg, Barron Ryan, Arturo Elizondo, (middle row) Samantha Pratt, Gitanjali Rao, Anitra Belle Henderson, (bottom row) Kennyjie, Andrea Ponti and Brett Phaneuf

Ten Innovators to Watch in 2021

These visionaries are imagining an exciting future with chicken-less eggs, self-piloting ships and more

Ory in November 1945, during his comeback after working as a janitor.

Kid Ory Finally Gets the Encore He Deserves

The childhood home of the musician who put New Orleans jazz on the map will soon open to the public

Cotton coverlet quilted in Texas, 19th century.

The State of American Craft Has Never Been Stronger

Today’s craft renaissance is more than just an antidote to our over-automated world. It renews a way of life that made us who we are

In this newspaper illustration, the Electoral Commission holds a secret candlelit meeting in the courtroom of the Supreme Court on February 16, 1877.

Five Things to Know About the 1876 Presidential Election

Lawmakers are citing the 19th-century crisis as precedent to dispute the 2020 election. Here's a closer look at its events and legacy

Veteran food critic Florence Fabricant has called peanut butter “the pâté of childhood.”

A Brief History of Peanut Butter

The bizarre sanitarium staple that became a spreadable obsession

Page 22 of 52