Special Report

Race in America

To mark the Smithsonian's multi-year initiative, Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past, which will confront the history and legacy of race and racism through live and virtual events, pop-up exhibitions, digital resources, and other offerings, Smithsonian magazine has compiled this collection of relevant coverage.

The Smithsonian's Race and Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past initiative centers on six pillars. Getty Images

In 1860, Lieutenant John M. Brooke wrote, “I am satisfied that [Manjiro] has had more to do with the opening of Japan than any other man living.”

The Shipwrecked Teenager Who Helped End Japan's Isolationist Era

The spiraled crafted work On the Air by Jeong Ju Lee is made to flow with the contour of the model's shoulder.

These Asian American Artists Merge Traditional Aesthetics With Contemporary Practices

Wong Kim Ark's departure statement

How the Fight for Birthright Citizenship Shaped the History of Asian American Families

Asian American History

Wong Kim Ark's departure statement

How the Fight for Birthright Citizenship Shaped the History of Asian American Families

Hardeep Dhillon

During World War II, Executive Order 9066 authorized the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans (above: In Los Angeles in April 1942, dozens of families wait for a train to Manzanar War Relocation Center in Owens Valley, California).

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Japanese American Artists Recall the Trauma of Wartime Incarceration

Japanese American National Museum volunteer Barbara Keimi stamps the Ireichō.

The First-Ever List of Japanese Americans Forced Into Incarceration Camps Is 1,000 Pages Long

Black History

Tina Turner performing in Illinois in 1987

Tina Turner, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, Left an Indelible Mark on Music History

Christopher Parker

The only meeting between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X occured on March 26, 1964, at the U.S. Senate.

Martin Luther King Jr. Never Said Famous Quote Criticizing Malcolm X

Christopher Parker

Edna Lewis gathers ingredients in the garden behind Ellerslie Plantation west of Charlottesville, Virginia, 1975.

What Made Edna Lewis the Mother of Soul Food

Latino American History

Gloria Estefan performing at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2021

Gloria Estefan Will Be the First Hispanic Woman in the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson at his desk in November 1957

When Lyndon B. Johnson Chose the Middle Ground on Civil Rights—and Disappointed Everyone

The 17th-century fort at Portobelo, built by enslaved laborers, overlooks the bay area where some of the earliest maroons settled after gaining their freedom.

A New Discovery Puts Panama as the Site of the First Successful Slave Rebellion

Native American History

A two-year-old adult female bison named Wyoming Hope gave birth to the 30-pound calf on May 16.

Rare White Bison Born in Wyoming State Park

View of the Skagit River, with the Diablo Dam (completed in 1930) visible

On This Disputed River, Progress May Mean a Return to the Past

Adam M. Sowards

To allay any suspicions, an English colonist took a drink from one container, then surreptitiously offered another filled with poisoned wine to the Powhatans.

Was the 1623 Poisoning of 200 Native Americans One of the Continent's First War Crimes?

Peter C. Mancall