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Viggo Mortensen (left) and Mahershala Ali star in Green Book.

American South

The True Story of the ‘Green Book’ Movie

Jazz, race and an unlikely friendship inspire the new film about navigating Jim Crow America

A famous Enlightenment era writer and philosopher, Voltaire made a splash with his first play, Oedipe.

How Voltaire Went from Bastille Prisoner to Famous Playwright

Three hundred years ago this week, the French philosopher and writer began his career with a popular retelling of Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus’

Several of the newly identified stone tools – unearthed from a museum collection.

A Fresh Look at These Stone Tools Reveals a New Chapter of Ancient Chinese History

Archaeologists thought these ancient tools, 80,000 years old at least, were brought to China by migrants—but now it appears they were invented locally

An engraving of James A. Garfield's assassination, published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

The Garfield Assassination Altered American History, But Is Woefully Forgotten Today

A newly installed historical marker recognizes the site where Charles Guiteau shot the president in 1881

Directed by Otto Bathurst, Robin Hood stars Taron Egerton in the title role, with Jamie Foxx as Little John, Ben Mendelsohn as the Sheriff of Nottingham and Eve Hewson as Marian.

Why a New Robin Hood Arises Every Generation

Troubled times always bring out the noble bandit who, in the face of tyranny and corruption, robs from the rich to give back to the people

More like something out of a dream than a part of daily life, that weekend indelibly imprinted scenes in American memory: the riderless horse, the rat-a-tat-tat of the muffled drums, the brave widow, the toddler saluting his father’s casket.

How Poetry Soothed a Nation in Mourning for John F. Kennedy

First the jolt of shock, then a shroud of sadness struck the nation in the weeks following that fateful day

The Telharmonium is considered to be the first electromechanical musical instrument.

The World’s First Synthesizer Was a 200-Ton Behemoth

Thaddeus Cahill’s Telharmonium may not have been a huge success, but it was an important achievement in music history

Thanksgiving tells the story of a landmark moment of coexistence, multiculturalism and even neighborliness (above: The First Thanksgiving, 1621, Jean Leon G. Ferris) when Native Americans taught Pilgrims to farm, and shared a meal with them after a successful harvest in 1621.

How an Unremarkable ‘Brunch in the Forest’ Turned Into the Thanksgiving We Know

A new Sidedoor podcast dives into the holiday’s origins

Close up on Atlanta University's "City and Rural Population. 1890" data visualization

Document Deep Dive

W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color

His pioneering team of black sociologists created data visualizations that explained institutionalized racism to the world

Detail of a copy of the Declaration printed by Goddard

Women Who Shaped History

Mary Katharine Goddard, the Woman Whose Name Appears on the Declaration of Independence

Likely the United States’ first woman employee, this newspaper publisher was a key figure in promoting the ideas that fomented the Revolution

The NIST-4 Kibble balance, an electromagnetic weighing machine that is used to measure Planck's constant, and in turn, redefine the kilogram.

Scientists Are About to Redefine the Kilogram and Shake Up Our System of Measures

After more than 100 years of defining the kilogram according to a metal artifact, humanity is preparing to change the unit based on a constant of nature

“First ladies still tend to be more mysterious than the presidents,” says Smithsonian curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy. “We’re always hoping once the First Lady is out of office (above: Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009) she’s going to let us in a little more.”

History of Now

The History of First Ladies’ Memoirs

Freed from the political constraints of living in the White House, these famous women have over the decades shared their personal opinions with the public

A brave soul walks on Legos at the U.K. Firewalk

Why Walking on Legos Hurts More Than Walking on Fire or Ice

Everything you wanted to know about the science and history of stomping on the toy blocks

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Ingenious Minds

A Smithsonian Sports Curator Explains How Athletes Turn Social and Political Issues into National Conversations

Atlantic staff writer Frank Foer interviews Damion Thomas about athletes moving from a position of apathy to engagement

An illustration of Blackbeard, the famed pirate

Three Centuries After His Beheading, a Kinder, Gentler Blackbeard Emerges

Recent discoveries cast a different light on the most famous—and most feared—pirate of the early 18th century

At the Arc de Triomphe in 1919, Edwards blew “Taps” in honor of the fallen for their service and their sacrifice.

Hartley Edwards Played “Taps” on this Bugle After World War I to Honor the Fallen

But the bugler remembered the story a bit wrong. A century later, a curator sets the record straight

Cellucotton, the material used to make Kotex sanitary pads, was used in World War 1 hospitals as a bandage. Nurses quickly found another use for it.

The Surprising Origins of Kotex Pads

Before the first disposable sanitary napkin hit the mass market, periods were thought of in a much different way

The new, animated Grinch

Top 10 Real-Life Grinches Who Did Their Best to Steal Christmas

These historical humbugs rival Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch in their lack of holiday spirit

Bruce is alternately painted as a patriot whose perseverance secured his nation’s independence and a more shadowy figure with dangerous ambitions

Based on a True Story

The True Story of Robert the Bruce, Scotland’s ‘Outlaw King’

Chris Pine stars as the Netflix film’s eponymous hero, who secures his country’s independence but leaves behind a tangled legacy

The Notre Dame de Lorette military cemetery near Arras in northern France is the burial place of 40,000 French soldiers. Each grave is marked with a simple white cross bearing the soldier's name.

35 Places to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the End of World War I

These cemeteries, memorials and museums around the world remember the millions who died in the Great War

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