Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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Has Someone Else Ever Made a Decision That Affected Your Body?

We asked our visitors to talk back about bodily autonomy, and here's what they had to say

Three cards where visitors left handwritten messages invoking girl power. One card reads: “you think we're not good enough but we're just to [sic] good for you, girl power.”

What Does 'Girl Power' Really Mean?

Black velvet leotard with crystal bead detailing at neck

Designing Kristi Yamaguchi's Costume to Sparkle Under the Spotlight

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Meet the Titans of Jazz

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Ella at the Gala

Lousian Mamer

What Do Refrigerators Have to Do With Women's Empowerment?

Anti-suffrage pennant

Why a Social Activist Opposed Woman Suffrage

Ruth Bader Ginsburg at a Smithsonian event.

Join the Smithsonian to Honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Portrait of Madam C. J. Walker, taken in 1915.

How Madam C.J. Walker Changed Philanthropy

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Celebrate Black History Month With These Virtual Events

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When Computer Programming Was 'Just Like Planning a Dinner

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Maggie of the Boondocks

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Ten Objects That Will Help You Understand Latinx History

Rea Ann Silva with an oversized version of the Beautyblender sponge (Courtesy of Beautyblender)

How Rea Ann Silva Invented the Beautyblender—and Changed Makeup Forever

Girlhood (It’s complicated) opened to the public on October 9, 2020. Artwork by Krystal Quiles for NMAH.

Why Did the Smithsonian Create an Exhibit About Girlhood?

Rebecca Lukens (National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum, Coatesville, Pennsylvania)

How Rebecca Lukens Became the Nation's First Woman Industrialist

Robert Abbe's hourglass (NMAH)

Curing Cancer with a Single Gram of Radium

Title page to Garrard Conley's workbook from the gay-conversion camp Love in Action (NMAH)

The History of Getting the Gay Out

Leo Baker's personalized skateboards (NMAH)

How LGBTQ Skateboarders Have Carved Out a Place at the Park

Transgender flag designed by Monica Helms (right), and friends. The flag's stripes represent the traditional pink and blue associated with girls and boys and white for intersex, transitioning, or of undefined gender. Helms served in the United States Navy and became an activist for transgender rights in the late 1990s in Arizona where she grew up. She designed the flag in 1999. (NMAH)

Can an Object Be Gay? LGBTQ Collecting

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