Special Report

Breaking Ground

Smithsonian Institution

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The Definitive Story of How the National Museum of African American History and Culture Came to Be

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.”

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

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The Powerful Objects From the Collections of the Smithsonian's Newest Museum

Featured Stories

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture acquired three works by Elizabeth Catlett, representing the artist's impassioned devotion to the dignity, struggle and uplift.

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A Trio of Elizabeth Catlett Sculptures Convey the Power of Service to Humanity

Shantay Robinson

The Commemorative at St. Mary's College of Maryland honors the enslaved people who once lived and worked there.

National Park Service Adds 16 New Underground Railroad Sites to Commemorative Network

On July 21, 1963, Gloria Richardson was walking from a meeting when her would-be attacker ran at her with his brandished weapon leveled at her neck. She flat-palmed the blade of the bayonet, shoving it away from her body.

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How Gloria Richardson's Look of Righteous Indignation Became a Symbol of No Retreat

Janelle Harris Dixon

Sidney Poitier, pictured here in 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival, died Friday, January 7. He was 94.

How Sidney Poitier Rewrote the Script for Black Actors in Hollywood

A first edition of Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), written while the poet was enslaved to John Wheatley of Boston. The book has a brown leather cover, the original Morocco spine label and a frontispiece featuring a portrait of Phillis by Scipio Morehead.

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How Phillis Wheatley Beat All Expectations

The Moores' younger daughter, Evangeline, donated this locket and other personal artifacts to the Smithsonian in 2013.

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This Locket Memorializes a Black Activist Couple Murdered in a Christmas 1951 Bombing

bell hooks, pictured in 1999

Groundbreaking Feminist Scholar bell hooks Dies at 69

Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye will lead design of the new Heritage District, a center dedicated to teaching about the history and impact of the transatlantic slave trade.

After Breaking Ties With Britain, Barbados Announces Heritage District Tracing Slavery's Toll

Dozens of Smithsonian Institution professionals share their favorite reads from this year.

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Smithsonian Scholars Pick Their Favorite Books of 2021

Beth Py-Lieberman

The black-and-white stills represent the spirit rendered by King Richard, the new film starring Will Smith as the Williams sisters’ father, coach and mentor.

These Vintage Photos of Venus and Serena Williams Reveal the Truth of 'King Richard'

By Patrick Sauer
Photographs by Roderick Lyons