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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
Neal V. Loving in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954

In 1946, a Black Pilot Returned to the Cockpit After a Double Amputation

At the Paris World's Fair a powerful display of hand-drawn diagrams (above: Income and expenditure of 150 Negro families in Atlanta, Ga.,U.S. designed by W.E.B. Du Bois and his students) called attention to the unrecognized contributions of Black Americans. The fragile posters are being rotatated in and out of an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through May 2023.

How W.E.B. Du Bois Disrupted America’s Dominance at the World’s Fair

The Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland in California

Disney’s Controversial Splash Mountain Ride Has Officially Closed

Black History

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

HISTORY

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

Zachary Clary

Among other items, numerous alligator and crocodile coats once owned by André Leon Talley will go on sale at Christie's later this month.

SMART NEWS

André Leon Talley’s Caftans and Cufflinks Are Going Up for Auction

Ella Feldman

Arthur Duncan performing on "The Lawrence Welk Show"

SMART NEWS

Arthur Duncan, Talented Tap Dancer Who Broke Barriers, Dies at 97

Brigit Katz

Asian American History

Japanese American National Museum volunteer Barbara Keimi stamps the Ireichō.

SMART NEWS

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

Molly Enking

Blue jeans gained popularity in the late 19th-century American West due to their durability.

HISTORY

Cache of 19th-Century Blue Jeans Discovered in Abandoned Arizona Mineshaft

Erika Mailman

Actress Anna May Wong is the latest woman to appear on the quarter under the U.S. Mint's American Women Quarters program.

SMART NEWS

Meet Anna May Wong, the First Asian American on U.S. Currency

Sarah Kuta

Latino American History

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

SMART NEWS

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

Ella Feldman

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

HISTORY

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

Zachary Clary

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.

HISTORY

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

Melba Newsome

Native American History

Havasu Falls in Arizona

SMART NEWS

Havasu Falls Is Reopening After Three Years

Molly Enking

Indigenous people brought to Spain by Hernán Cortés play the game patolli.

HISTORY

The Indigenous Americans Who Visited Europe

Karin Wulf

Fascinating finds unveiled in 2022 ranged from a 2,000-year-old statue of a dog to colorful sarcophagi at Saqqara to a Qing dynasty vase.

HISTORY

Ninety-Six Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2022

Meilan Solly

From the Smithsonian

Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past Initiative


Watch a Discussion on Race and Wellness


Educator Tools for Talking About Race


Glossary of Key Terms and Phrases

More from the magazine

Protestors march through the streets of D.C. during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody.

HISTORY

158 Resources for Understanding Systemic Racism in America


Protesters attend a rally in support of affirmative action in college admissions on October 31, 2022.

HISTORY

The Origins of the Term 'Affirmative Action'


Nazi officials use calipers to measure an ethnic German's nose on January 1, 1941. The Nazis developed a pseudoscientific system of facial measurement that was supposedly a way of determining racial descent.

SCIENCE

The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism


<p>To many people, Henrietta Lacks, painted by Kadir Nelson in 2017, symbolizes inequity in medicine. Lacks died from cervical cancer in 1951, but her tumor cells— used in research without her permission—would enable medical advances, including the polio vaccine.</p>

SCIENCE

The Historical Roots of Racial Disparities in American Health Care


Simone Biles (pictured) and Naomi Osaka, both Black athletes at the top of their sports, have been vocal about their struggles with mental health.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The Relationship Between Race and Wellness Has Never Been More Pressing


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AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Why the Smithsonian Is Encouraging Americans to Talk More Openly About Race

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