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History / U.S. History

The Peace Memorial stands in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 15, 2021, nine days after the storming of Congress.

The Tragic Irony of the U.S. Capitol’s Peace Monument

An unfinished Civil War memorial became an allegory for peace—and a scene of insurrection

James Earl Jones (right) played Jack Johnson, while Jane Alexander (left) portrayed Eleanor Bachman, a fictionalized version of the boxer's first wife.

Based on a True Story

Looking Back at the Legacy of ‘The Great White Hope’ and Boxer Jack Johnson

James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, the two stars of the play and movie, reminisce about their experience adapting the life story of boxer Jack Johnson

A dedication marker outside of the damaged Prince Hall Masonic Lodge.

Black Soldiers Played an Undeniable but Largely Unheralded Role in Founding the United States

Veterans like Prince Hall fought for independence and then abolition in the earliest days of the nation

Many contemporaries argued that Black men had more than earned the right to vote through their military service in the Civil War.

Smithsonian Voices

How the Unresolved Debate Over Black Male Suffrage Shaped the Presidential Election of 1868

At the height of the Reconstruction, the pressing issue was Black male suffrage

In the background, a photograph taken by an American U-2 spy plane over Cuba on October 14, 1962, shows a secret deployment of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. Right, Juanita Moody, head of the National Security Agency’s Cuba desk.

Women Who Shaped History

The Once-Classified Tale of Juanita Moody: The Woman Who Helped Avert a Nuclear War

America’s bold response to the Soviet Union depended on an unknown spy agency operative whose story can at last be told

For generations, Americans have sought to understand the sense of shared destiny—or perhaps, civic obligation—that forged the nation.

The Pitfalls and Promise of America’s Founding Myths

Maintaining a shared sense of nationhood has always been a struggle for a country defined not by organic ties, but by a commitment to a set of ideals

Maggie Lena Walker

Smithsonian Voices

How Maggie Lena Walker Became the First Black Woman to Run a Bank in the Segregated South

Time to reclaim the legacy and success of the first Black woman in the nation to organize and run a bank in the segregated South

A dress worn by Martha Washington from the collection of the National Museum of American History. The gown's basic style is typical of the early 1780s.

Women Who Shaped History

Why Martha Washington’s Life Is So Elusive to Historians

A gown worn by the first First Lady reveals a dimension of her nature that few have been aware of

Satchel Paige pitches during warmups for Cleveland on August 30, 1948. Signed midway through the MLB season, Paige became the first African American to pitch in the American League.

Fifty Years Ago, Satchel Paige Brought the Negro Leagues to Baseball’s Hall of Fame

One of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, the seemingly ageless wonder inspired awe among the public and his opponents

Once Pathfinder bounced to a stop, the cushioned covering deflated and Sojourner rolled out to explore the other-worldly surface like no mission before it.

Exploring Mars

Recalling the Thrill of Pathfinder’s Mission to Mars

Almost three decades ago, Americans were awed by the pitch-perfect airbag-assisted landing and the deploying of the rover Sojourner

Informer William O'Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield, seen wearing a beret in the foreground) provided the FBI with information used to plan Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton's assassination (portrayed by Daniel Kaluuya, standing with hand raised at the podium).

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

Shaka King’s upcoming film dramatizes Black Panther leader Fred Hampton’s betrayal by an FBI informant

Famed illustrator Thomas Nast designed this celebration of emancipation, with Abraham Lincoln inset at the bottom, in 1865

Black Lives Certainly Mattered to Abraham Lincoln

A look at the president’s words and actions during his term shows his true sentiments on slavery and racial equality

HBCUs have consistently enrolled more Black women than men every year since 1976. As of 2018, those women comprise 62 percent of students.

How America’s HBCUs Produced Generations of Black Women Leaders

Take a deep dive into the Smithsonian’s artifacts and archives and explore the legacy of America’s historically Black colleges and universities

After three hours of searching, the back of my vehicle was filled with an array of potential museum artifacts, big and small, long and short.

Smithsonian Voices

A Museum Curator Reports on Rapid-Response Collecting January 6 on Capitol Hill

National Museum of American History curator Frank Blazich discusses rapid-response collecting in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

“We found ourselves in just that moment of knowing that history was unfolding before our very eyes on January 6,” writes the museum’s director Anthea M. Hartig (above).

Smithsonian Voices

Director of the American History Museum Reflects on the Challenges of Our Historic Times

Anthea M. Hartig, the Director of the National Museum of American History, reflects on the challenges of living through a historic time

Musician Lara Downes aims to highlight the work of composers like Harry T. Burleigh, photographed c. 1938.

How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music

A new project seeks to elevate artists like Harry T. Burleigh and Florence Price, whose work has been ignored by white audiences

A copy of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was gifted to the National Museum of American History and exhibited in a 2015 exhibition "The Early Sixties: American Culture."

The Powerful, Complicated Legacy of Betty Friedan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique’

The acclaimed reformer stoked the white, middle-class feminist movement and brought critical understanding to a “problem that had no name”

Taken in 1922, the ship Jose Gaspar passes the Lafayette Street Bridge in Tampa during the Gasparilla Festival

The True History and Swashbuckling Myth Behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Namesake

Pirates did roam the Gulf Coast, but more myths than facts have inspired the regional folklore

Alan Shepard, who was both an astronaut and a golf lover, said he got the idea while training for his Apollo 14 mission. “I thought: What a neat place to whack a golf ball.”

When Astronaut Alan Shepard Hit the Golf Shot Heard ‘Round the World

“The Moon is one big sand trap,” the astronaut said after he brought the game to a new frontier

The Dollar lift was 2,360 feet long and rose 634 feet in elevation.

How a Railroad Engineer From Nebraska Invented the World’s First Ski Chairlift

The device was part of an elaborate plan on behalf of Union Pacific to boost passenger rail travel in the American West

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