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Left: Walker in 1912; Right: Octavia Spencer as the inspiring businesswoman in the Netflix series “Self Made,” which debuts this month.

Women Who Shaped History

Madam C.J. Walker Gets a Netflix Close-Up

A turn-of-the-century hair-care magnate who shared her wealth gets the spotlight

The circa 1968-96 Lunar con Tatuaje (Moon With Tattoo), made of stretched canvas and acrylic, is one of over 40 works in the retrospective.

New York Museum Highlights the Artwork of Zilia Sánchez

The Cuban American artist has long been a creative force. Now she’s having her big moment—in her tenth decade

Two Marines in the Marine Corps’ 5th Division cemetery on Iwo Jima pay their respects to a fallen comrade.

Recently Digitized Iwo Jima Footage Shows the Human Side of the Famous Battle

The archival clips show Marines mourning friends, enjoying downtime and more

Ken Gonzales-Day’s photograph of the Portrait of Shonke Mon-thi^ now resides in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

Recognition of Major Osage Leader and Warrior Opens a New Window Into History

The story of Shonke Mon-thi^, a hidden figure in American history, is now recovered at the National Portrait Gallery

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See Indigenous Films at the Mother Tongue Film Festival

The four-day event shows more than 20 films featuring 28 languages from 22 regions

The HL Hunley pressed its torpedo against the side of the USS Housatonic until it detonated.

The New Explosive Theory About What Doomed the Crew of the ‘Hunley’

A blast-injury expert takes aim at the mystery of what sank the most famous—and lethal—submarine of the Civil War

Depictions of Madame Yale often suggested that she had a hand in crafting her concoctions.

Madame Yale Made a Fortune With the 19th Century’s Version of Goop

A century before today’s celebrity health gurus, an American businesswoman was a beauty with a brand

Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City (1946).

Women Who Shaped History

How the U.S. Government Deployed Grandma Moses Overseas in the Cold War

In 1950, an exhibition of the famed artist’s paintings toured Europe in a promotional campaign of American culture

Captain Edward J. Dwight, Jr., the first African American selected as a potential astronaut, looks over a model of Titan rockets in November 1963.

Ed Dwight Was Going to Be the First African American in Space. Until He Wasn’t

The Kennedy administration sought a diverse face to the space program, but for reasons unknown, the pilot was kept from reaching the stars

On the right, corn plants inoculated with sugarcane microbes saw their biomass increase compared to those that were not inoculated (on the left).

How Sugar’s Bacteria Could Point the Way to More Efficient Agriculture

New research proves the power of beneficial bacteria and fungi that help sugarcane grow larger and rebound from stress faster

The wingless Horten Ho 229 V3 on display with other Nazi aircraft.

Why the Experimental Nazi Aircraft Known as the Horten Never Took Off

The unique design of the flyer, held in the collections of the Smithsonian, has infatuated aviation enthusiasts for decades

Left, the British Army camped at Balaklava in the Crimea. Right, an angelic Nightingale animates a stained glass window crafted around 1930.

The Defiance of Florence Nightingale

Scholars are finding there’s much more to the “lady with the lamp” than her famous exploits as a nurse in the Crimean War

Two giraffes

Fourteen Fun Facts About Love and Sex in the Animal Kingdom

Out in the wild, flowers and candy just aren’t gonna cut it

Josh Gibson slides into home during the 1944 Negro Leagues All-Star Game.

How Baseball’s Negro Leagues Defied the Stereotypes of Segregation

Formed 100 years ago, the Negro Leagues were a resounding success and an immense source of pride for black America

The six CD set Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings won a Grammy in the category for Best Historical Album. The set includes some well-known, not-so-well-known, and previously unreleased recordings spanning Seeger’s career.

Grammy Nod to Folkways’ Pete Seeger Collection Is a Fitting Tribute

The producers aim to inspire future generations to carry on the singer’s legacy

Cooking as a First Language has hosted Moroccan, Bangladeshi, Ecuadorian, South African and Caribbean dinners, among others.

These Supper Clubs Are Using Food to Cross Cultural Divides

Cooking classes in a growing number of cities are teaching U.S.-born residents to embrace their immigrant neighbors

Three Cassiopea, or upside-down jellyfish, seen from above in a lab at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The cloudy matter floating above and to the left of the jellyfish is a mucus that they exude.

These Jellyfish Don’t Need Tentacles to Deliver a Toxic Sting

Smithsonian scientists discovered that tiny ‘mucus grenades’ are responsible for a mysterious phenomenon known as ‘stinging water’

Mexico City Is Proposing to Build One of the World’s Largest Urban Parks

More than twice the size of Manhattan, the park could restore the water systems of the region and serve as a model for cities around the world

Charles Darwin, left, and his conservative publisher, John Murray III, right.

Charles Darwin’s Publisher Didn’t Believe in Evolution, but Sold His Revolutionary Book Anyway

The famed naturalist and conservative stalwart John Murray III formed an unlikely alliance in popularizing a radical idea

Clarence Barnes and Craig Wade with the banner in the Wade family home.

How Two 1950s Kids Playing on the Railroad Tracks Found a National Treasure

Curators at the National Museum of American History talked to the brothers who found a relic of the 1800 Adams and Jefferson election

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