Civil Rights

Follow the Path of the Freedom Riders in This Interactive Map

These civil rights activists showed true courage in telling the nation about the segregated South

How Obama's Historic 2008 DNC Speech Came Together

Presidential candidate Barack Obama's scheduled speech to the Democratic National Convention fell on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech

Within Our Gates is the oldest surviving film by a black director.

Watch the Oldest-Known Surviving Film by an African-American Director

<i>Within Our Gates</i> was Oscar Micheaux’s response to a racist classic

African-American Girl Scouts chat at a camp named after Josephine Holloway, who pioneered scouting for girls of color.

Girl Scouting Was Once Segregated

Though the Girl Scouts of the USA initially declared itself a space for all girls, the reality was different for girls of color

Emmett Till with his mother Mamie Till-Mobley, ca. 1950

What the Director of the African American History Museum Says About the New Emmett Till Revelations

Decades after his death, the wife of his murderer confesses she lied under oath

The lunch counter interactive at the National Museum of African American History and Culture explores key moments in the struggle for Civil Rights.

What Death Threats Against My Parents Taught Me About Taking a Stand

Family stories are an ideal way to explore themes like “where have I come from?” and “where am I going?”

This Map Shows Over a Century of Documented Lynchings in the United States

Mapping the history of racial terror

Central High School, where school integration battles of the Civil Rights Movement played out, is among 39 sites and historical projects to get National Park Service grants.

New Grants Give Out Millions to Preserve African-American History

A $7.5 million grant program will fund 39 projects in over 20 states

Some states still celebrate the birthdays of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the same day.

Some States Celebrate MLK Day and Robert E. Lee’s Birthday on the Same Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. has been celebrated on the third Monday in January since the federal holiday was first observed in 1986

Civil Rights-era freedom riders are just one of the groups whose history is honored in three new national monuments.

New National Monuments Highlight Reconstruction and Civil Rights History

President Obama designated three Southern sites critical to sharing that story

Richard and Mildred Loving by Grey Villet, 1965

When the Serendipitously Named Lovings Fell in Love, Their World Fell Apart

The new film captures the quiet essence of the couples’ powerful story, says Smithsonian scholar Christopher Wilson

An official notice of exclusion and removal posted on April 1, 1942.

75 Years Ago, the Secretary of the Navy Falsely Blamed Japanese-Americans for Pearl Harbor

The baseless accusation sparked the road to the infamous internment camps

Canada will have plenty of time to get used to Viola Desmond—she'll soon be on the country's $10 bills.

Canada Will Put Another Woman on Its Currency

An early civil rights heroine makes history (again)

Protesting Ford’s Theatre Jim Crow admission policy, ca. 1951.

Historic Photos of Baltimore Show the Real-Life "Hairspray"

<i>Hairspray Live!</i> fans, learn the history behind the beloved story

After the 2016 election, several hundred students at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, walked out of the classrooms in protest.

Finding Lessons for Today’s Protests in the History of Political Activism

A whirlwind of action, both organized and organic, supported by legal defense teams brought historic change

We asked Smithsonian scholars to make book recommendations to our readers for this holiday season of gift giving.

Increase and Diffuse Knowledge for the Holidays With These Smithsonian Curated Books

Books recommended by Smithsonian Institution scholars

A booking photo from Rosa Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955.

Sixty-Six Years After Rosa Parks Took a Seat in Montgomery, Protest Is Alive in America

The civil rights leader likely would have approved of current activists' work

John Lewis has been arrested at least 45 times—and three previously buried records have now been unearthed

John Lewis’ Arrest Records Are Finally Uncovered

“Good trouble” led to real consequences for the civil rights agitator

Activists picketing at a demonstration for housing equality while uniformed American Nazi Party members counterprotest in the background with signs displaying anti-integration slogans and racist epithets.

This Photo Book Is a Reminder That the Civil Rights Movement Extended Far Beyond the Deep South

Public historian Mark Speltz's new book is full of images that aren't typically part of the 1960s narrative

A statue of the former slave Clara Brown, who was born into slavery in 1800. She married and had four children, but the family was broken up and sold at auction.

In “Defending Freedom,” the Vanguards Who Refused to Be Suppressed Are Reunited

At the African American History Museum, this exhibition graphically conveys the trials and triumphs in the battle for Civil Rights

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