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

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

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

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

Arthur Duncan performing on "The Lawrence Welk Show"

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

Asian American History

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

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

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

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

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

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

Havasu Falls in Arizona

Havasu Falls Is Reopening After Three Years

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

The Indigenous Americans Who Visited Europe

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.

Ninety-Six Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2022