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History / U.S. History

Ephraim McDowell is memorialized in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall Collection

This American Doctor Pioneered Abdominal Surgery by Operating on Enslaved Women

Glorified with a statue in the U.S. Capitol, Ephraim McDowell is a hero in Kentucky, but the full story needs to be told

In World War II America, Female Santas Took the Reins

Rosie the Riveter wasn’t the only woman who pitched in on the homefront

An artist's rendering of the CP-1 nuclear reactor.

How the First Man-Made Nuclear Reactor Reshaped Science and Society

In December 1942, Chicago Pile-1 ushered in an age of frightening possibility

Detail of north elevation of Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall), from 1752 map of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Two Centuries Ago, Pennsylvania Almost Razed Independence Hall to Make Way for Private Development

Fortunately saner minds prevailed when the state thought about tearing down Philadelphia’s historic structure

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is home to a photograph of Travolta by Douglas Kirkland, (above, detail), striking his characteristic dance pose.

John Travolta’s Breakout Hit Was America’s Best Dance Party

It’s been 40 years since ‘Saturday Night Fever’—a gritty film powered by music, machismo and masterful footwork—became a cultural phenomenon

A pod of dolphins swim along a boat in the Channel Islands National Park, California

What Archaeologists and Historians Are Finding About the Heroine of a Beloved Young Adult Novel

New scholarship reveals details about the Native American at the center of the classic Island of the Blue Dolphins

The accused "Angel Makers of Nagyrév" walk in the Szolnok prison yard in Hungary.

Is There Humanity to Be Found Within Serial Killers?

A new book tells the complex stories behind murderous women, the so-called “femmes fatales.”

Women shipfitters working on board the USS Nereus at the U.S. Navy Yard in Mare Island, circa 1943.

Women Who Shaped History

During World War II, Thousands of Women Chased Their Own California Dream

For some who moved west for work, this dream was temporary. For others, it lasted a lifetime

Ava DuVernay

American Ingenuity Awards

Ava DuVernay’s Visionary Filmmaking Is Reshaping Hollywood

Her eye for American history puts her in the vanguard. Her passion for justice makes her a hero

Mark Bradford's installation Pickett’s Charge at the Hirshhorn spans almost 400 feet and consists of eight canvases measuring 12 feet tall and more than 45 feet long.

Mark Bradford’s Paintings Scratch at the Surface of a Conflicted America

The Hirshhorn Museum hosts the artist’s first solo show in Washington

The Orient Express circa 1883

What Was the Inspiration for “The Murder on the Orient Express”?

Agatha Christie wrote her famous detective novel based on an even more famous kidnapping

Cabins like these in Laurel Valley are similar to those in the area at the time of the Thibodaux Massacre.

The Thibodaux Massacre Left 60 African-Americans Dead and Spelled the End of Unionized Farm Labor in the South for Decades

In 1887, African-American cane workers in Louisiana attempted to organize—and many paid with their lives

Arlo Guthrie

A Brief History of “Alice’s Restaurant”

The Arlo Guthrie classic starts off retelling the true story of what happened more than 50 years ago

Woman Cleaning Shower in Beverly Hills (after David Hockney's Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills, 1964) by Ramiro Gomez, 2013

The Invisible Face of the American Worker Is Made Stunningly Visible in This New Show

The National Portrait Gallery kicks off its 50th anniversary with the exhibition “The Sweat of Their Face”

What would the days, weeks, years after a nuclear explosion really look like? In 1983, Carl Sagan gave the public their first imagining.

When Carl Sagan Warned the World About Nuclear Winter

Before the official report came out, the popular scientist took to the presses to paint a dire picture of what nuclear war might look like

The upstate New York home of Joseph Barbara where leaders of Mafia crime families met on November 14, 1957.

A 1957 Meeting Forced the FBI to Recognize the Mafia—And Changed the Justice System Forever

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover previously ignored the growing threat in favor of pursuing Cold War bugaboos

A demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918

The Next Pandemic

Why Did the 1918 Flu Kill So Many Otherwise Healthy Young Adults?

Uncovering a World War I veteran’s story provided a genealogist and pharmacologist with some clues

The exhibition "Sports: Leveling the Playing Field" highlights the achievements of African American athletes on both national and international stages.

Lonnie Bunch Looks Back on the Making of the Smithsonian’s Newest Museum

The director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture reflects on what it took to make a dream reality

A 1939 photo of German Jewish refugees aboard the German liner Saint Louis.

Women in Science

The Forgotten Women Scientists Who Fled the Holocaust for the United States

A new project from Northeastern University traces the journeys of 80 women who attempted to escape Europe and find new lives in America during World War II

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