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At the Smithsonian / Curators' Corner

Young people of the U.S. Virgin Islands march along in a carnival parade, amid the destruction of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

How Cultural Resilience Made a Difference After Hurricane Hugo And Could Help Again

When the 1989 hurricane devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands, Smithsonian folklorists were working on an upcoming Folklife Festival

Once the track is formed with "people fences" on either side, crossing is strictly prohibited—they believe "cutting" it will upset the deities and lead to accidents during the race. Now with improved transportation in the region, more outsiders visit Dzongsar for the festival and often break this rule.

Check Out These Stunning Photographs of a Tibetan Horseback Sport

Kings in ancient Tibet promoted the sport to save money on military training

Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) right before the famous match in Battle of the Sexes.

The True Story Behind Billie Jean King’s Victorious “Battle of the Sexes”

Smithsonian sports curator Eric Jentsch offers a look at her legacy beyond the legendary match

Capoeira roda in the Arts and Industries Building at the 2017 Folklife Festival.

How Brazilian Capoeira Evolved From a Martial Art to an International Dance Craze

The athletic movements may have inspired modern break dancing

In Charlottesville, Virginia, city workers drape a tarp over the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Emancipation park to symbolize the city's mourning for Heather Heyer, killed while protesting a white nationalist rally in August.

Commentary

We Legitimize the ‘So-Called’ Confederacy With Our Vocabulary, and That’s a Problem

Tearing down monuments is only the beginning to understanding the false narrative of Jim Crow

Young Aboriginal dancers keeping their tradition alive at the Leura Festival in Australia.

Commentary

How We Can Support the World’s Rich Musical Diversity

Some music thrives, while other musical traditions are on the verge of disappearing

Members of Chamorro organizations, including the children from the Hurao Cultural Camp, perform a burial ceremony.

A Brief, 500-Year History of Guam

The Chamorro people of this Pacific island have long been buffeted by the crosswinds of foreign nations

How the Narwhal Got Its Tusk

According to Inuit storytelling tradition, the narwhal was once an evil stepmother, who wove her hair into a tusk

"Many people, Indian and otherwise, will continue to fight until your team name sits in the rubbish heap where it belongs," says Gover.

Commentary

The Washington Football Team Can Legally Keep Its Racist Name. But It Shouldn’t

The director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and a citizen of the Pawnee Nation, speaks out against the D.C. sports franchise

Hamm’s Draft Beer Can

Raise a Glass to the Smithsonian’s First Beer Scholar

Theresa McCulla is ready to start the “best job ever” chronicling the history of American brewing

Trained and created for UniverSoul Circus in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Pizza Posse marries acrobatics to slap stick comedy.

Two Circus Pros Juggle History and Race to Springboard Black Entertainers

Cedric Walker and Veronica Blair share a common fascination for the history of African-American circus

French American Music and Dance, 1983

Commentary

After 50 Years of Song, Dance, Food, Even Hog Calling, at the Folklife Festival, Is It Still Worthwhile?

Recognizing traditional culture in the information age is ever more important argues the director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Piri Thomas by Máximo Colón, 1972

Why Piri Thomas’ Coming of Age Memoir Still Resonates Today

“Down These Mean Streets” was an instant classic, a text of painful truths

Demetrius Shipp Jr. as Tupac Shakur in All Eyez On Me.

The Musical Legacy Behind the Tupac Biopic ‘All Eyez on Me’

Curator Dwandalyn Reece from the Smithsonian’s African American Museum investigates

In 1971, Folkways Recordings released the album Raimon: Catalonian Protest Songs, and in the liner notes, Pete Seeger wrote: “Censors, in every corner of this world, tend to be shallow, literal-minded people. Raimon is a poet. There is no need to say more.”

This Catalan Folk Singer Refused to Bow to Oppression

The director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage recognizes the lifetime work of the singer activist Raimon

Langston Hughes by Edward Henry Weston, 1932

Why Langston Hughes Still Reigns as a Poet for the Unchampioned

Fifty years after his death, Hughes’ extraordinary lyricism resonates with power to people

The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a poem from the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa for the museum's new exhibition, "The Face of Battle."

A New Poem is Commissioned to Honor the Soldiers Who Fight America’s Wars

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa writes “After the Burn Pits” for the National Portrait Gallery

Wife Stands by Babe and Defies Accuser by Underwood & Underwood, 1925

Would the Legendary Babe Ruth Still Be a Star if He Played Today?

Award-winning sportswriter Jane Leavy says the Bambino would be as big a personality as he was in his own time

“Bucky’ and its large leaves

Meet Stinky ‘Bucky,’ the Bulbophyllum Orchid that Shutdown a Smithsonian Greenhouse

Orchid expert Tom Mirenda says history records the stench of this plant as reminiscent of a thousand dead elephants rotting in the sun

Five celebrated clowns from Sands, Nathans Co's Circus

Reports on the Death of the Circus Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Celebrating the arts, business, history and culture of the circus, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival brings 400 performers to the National Mall this summer

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