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History / U.S. History

Conservationists assess the bell, which was not rung throughout much of the 20th century after it fell into disrepair.

Breaking Ground

Historic Bell Helps Ring in New African American History Museum

Why President Obama won’t cut a ribbon when the new museum opens this Saturday

After U.S. Border Patrol spots their raft, migrants speed back toward the Mexico side of the Rio Grande.

Myth and Reason on the Mexican Border

The renowned travel writer journeys the length of the U.S.-Mexico border to get a firsthand look at life along the blurry 2,000-mile line

Resurrection City Mural (detail), 1968

Breaking Ground

A Mural on View in the African American History Museum Recalls the Rise of Resurrection City

The 1968 Hunger Wall is a stark reminder of the days when the country’s impoverished built a shantytown on the National Mall

How the Heated, Divisive Election of 1800 Was the First Real Test of American Democracy

A banner from the Smithsonian collections lays out the stakes of Jefferson vs. Adams

A view of Mount Rushmore under construction, c.1938-1939

The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore

The sculptor behind the American landmark had some unseemly ties to white supremacy groups

It is thought that Nat Turner was holding this Bible when he was captured two months after the rebellion he led against slaveholders in Southampton County, Virginia.

Breaking Ground

Nat Turner’s Bible Gave the Enslaved Rebel the Resolve to Rise Up

A Bible belonging to the enslaved Turner spoke of possibility says curator Rex Ellis of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Envelopes and other artifacts from the 2001 anthrax attacks are on view in “Behind the Badge: The U.S. Postal Inspection Service” at the National Postal Museum.

The Anthrax Letters That Terrorized a Nation Are Now Decontaminated and on Public View

Carriers of the deadly anthrax bacteria, these letters—on loan from the FBI—can be seen at the National Postal Museum

The American Velocipede

American Drivers Have Bicyclists to Thank for a Smooth Ride to Work

Urban elites with a fancy hobby teamed up with rural farmers in a movement that transformed the nation

Fuselage from Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, September 11, 2001

Remembering 9/11, From a Scrawled Note to a Scrap of Fuselage

How objects both ordinary and extraordinary help us reflect on the devastation

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in the latter's office in Washington on the occasion of Mrs. Roosevelt's being sworn in as Mayor La Guardia's assistant in the Office of Civilian Defense.

History of Now

The New Deal Origins of Homeland Security

During FDR’s administration, the First Lady and the Mayor of New York clashed over guns, butter and American liberalism

The Jones-Hall-Sims House, stripped down from 140 years of additions and siding, was acquired in 2009 by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and has been rebuilt as part of an exhibition called “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation.”

Breaking Ground

For Nearly 150 Years, This One House Told a Novel Story About the African-American Experience

On view in the new museum, the woodframe dwelling evokes the aspirations and limitations of the era following enslavement

The Williams Dreamland Theatre, Tulsa, OK, c. 1921

Your Questions About African-American History, Answered

A special edition of Ask Smithsonian on the occasion of the opening of a new Smithsonian museum

Once 2,000 square miles in Virginia and North Carolina, the swamp today is perhaps one-tenth that size.

Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom

The Great Dismal Swamp was once a thriving refuge for runaways

The Browns in Topeka, Kansas

The Children of Civil Rights Leaders Are Keeping Their Eyes on the Prize

The next generation is following in the footsteps of its forebears

The Carnegie Quarry fossil excavation at Utah's Dinosaur National Monument has yielded more than 11 different species, including dinosaurs, such as Allosaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus, as well as turtles, crocodiles and lizards.

You Can Thank Scientists for the National Park System

Early conservation research and scientific expeditions laid the groundwork and helped to convince the public national parks were a good idea

An African-American family leaves Florida for the North during the Great Depression.

The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration

When millions of African-Americans fled the South in search of a better life, they remade the nation in ways that are still being felt

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