African Americans
America’s Forgotten Landscape Painter: Robert S. Duncanson
Beloved by 19th-century audiences around the world, the African-American artist fell into obscurity, only to be celebrated as a genius more than a century later
October 19, 2011 |
By Lucinda Moore
Holding on to Gullah Culture
A Smithsonian curator visits a Georgia island to find stories of a shrinking community that has clung to its African traditions
March 2011 |
By Erica R. Hendry
On the Trail of Harriet Tubman
Maryland’s Eastern Shore is home to many historical sites and parks devoted to the heroine of the Underground Railroad
February 02, 2011 |
By Jeanne Maglaty
An Ancestry of African-Native Americans
Using government documents, author Angela Walton-Raji traced her ancestors to the slaves owned by American Indians
February 17, 2010 |
By Katy June-Friesen
The Changing Definition of African-American
How the great influx of people from Africa and the Caribbean since 1965 is challenging what it means to be African-American
February 2010 |
By Ira Berlin
Memoirs of a World War II Buffalo Soldier
In a recently published memoir written over 60 years ago, veteran James Daugherty details his experiences as an African-American in combat
November 06, 2009 |
By Abby Callard
Emmett Till's Casket Goes to the Smithsonian
Simeon Wright recalls the events surrounding his cousin's murder and the importance of having the casket on public display
November 2009 |
By Abby Callard
Hazel Scott’s Lifetime of High Notes
She began her career as a musical prodigy and ended up breaking down racial barriers in the recording and film industries
October 16, 2009 |
By Karen Chilton
The Kentucky Derby’s Forgotten Jockeys
African American jockeys once dominated the track. But by 1921, they had disappeared from the Kentucky Derby
April 24, 2009 |
By Lisa K. Winkler
A Jazzed-Up Langston Hughes
A long-forgotten poem about the African-American experience is given new life in a multimedia performance
March 13, 2009 |
By Laban Carrick Hill
Summertime for Gershwin
In the South, the Gullah struggle to keep their traditions alive
June 01, 2007 |
By Whitney Dangerfield
Family Ties
African Americans use scientific advances to trace their roots
February 01, 2007 |
By Whitney Dangerfield
Ahead of Its Time?
Founded by a freed slave, an Illinois town was a rare example of biracial cooperation before the Civil War
January 2005 |
By Dana Mackenzie
Around the Mall & Beyond
Red-hot, beat-me-down, bring-you-up swing tunes' are just part of Radio Smithsonian's Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was, the story of radio's role in transforming the African-American community
April 1996 |
By Michael Kernan
