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African American History

Organizer Quintavious Rhodes addresses Black Lives Matter protesters during a march in Stone Mountain Park on June 16, 2020. Activists have long called for Stone Mountain's carved relief of Confederate generals to be taken down.

History of Now

Georgia Approves Changes to Stone Mountain Park, ‘Shrine to White Supremacy’

The site’s board authorized the creation of a truth-telling exhibit, a new logo and a relocated Confederate flag plaza

Remembering Tulsa

Remembering Tulsa

A century ago, a murderous mob attacked the most prosperous Black community in the nation. This is the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre

From May 31 through June 1, 1921, white mobs murdered scores of African Americans and ransacked, razed and burned homes, businesses and churches in Tulsa's Black community of Greenwood.

Remembering Tulsa

Reflections on the Artifacts Left Behind From the Tulsa Race Massacre

Objects and documents, says the Smithsonian historian Paul Gardullo, offer a profound opportunity for reckoning with a past that still lingers

Astronaut Sally Ride (left) and poet Maya Angelou (right) will be the first individuals honored through the American Women Quarters Program.

Women Who Shaped History

Maya Angelou, Sally Ride to Be Among First Women Featured on U.S. Quarters

Between 2022 and 2025, the U.S. Mint is set to highlight up to 20 trailblazing American women

A gangster, civil rights advocate, fashionista and businesswoman, St. Clair successfully took on one of the biggest crime bosses of the era.

Women Who Shaped History

Stephanie St. Clair, Harlem’s ‘Numbers Queen,’ Dominated the Gambling Underground and Made Millions

In the 1930s, the enigmatic figure ran an illegal lottery while championing New York City’s Black community

Booker T. Whatley was a horticulturist and agricultural professor at Tuskegee University in Alabama.

You Can Thank Black Horticulturist Booker T. Whatley for Your CSA

Long written out of the narrative, the Tuskegee University professor first introduced the concept in the 1960s as a solution for struggling Black farmers

Prior to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the thriving neighborhood of Greenwood, Oklahoma (seen here in 1920), was nicknamed "Black Wall Street."

Remembering Tulsa

How the Public Helped Historians Better Understand What Happened at Tulsa

A century after the massacre of a prosperous Black community, Smithsonian volunteers transcribed nearly 500 pages of vital records in less than 24 hours

Effa Manley, co-owner of the Negro Leagues' Newark Eagles, poses in the dugout of Ruppert Stadium in Newark, New Jersey, in 1948.

Baseball’s Leading Lady Championed Civil Rights and Empowered Black Athletes

Effa Manley advocated for Black rights as a Negro Leagues team owner in the 1930s and ‘40s

Featuring South African actress Thuso Mbedu as Cora (pictured here), the adaptation arrives amid a national reckoning on systemic injustice, as well as a renewed debate over cultural depictions of violence against Black bodies.

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind Amazon Prime’s ‘Underground Railroad’

The adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel reimagines the eponymous trail to freedom as an actual train track

Sanford Biggers' Oracle (2020) is now on view at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

This Monumental ‘Oracle’ Statue in NYC Subverts Traditional Sculpture

Part of an ongoing exhibition at Rockefeller Center, Sanford Biggers’ newest installation challenges the tropes of classical artwork

A statue of Benjamin Bannecker on view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, as seen in 2020

History of Now

Meet Benjamin Banneker, the Black Scientist Who Documented Brood X Cicadas in the Late 1700s

A prominent intellectual and naturalist, the Maryland native wrote extensively on natural phenomena and anti-slavery causes

L to R: Ward Lee, Tucker Henderson and Romeo were three of the nearly 500 captives illegally transported on the Wanderer.

Untold Stories of American History

This Yacht Trafficked Enslaved Africans Long After the Slave Trade Was Abolished

New exhibition in Louisiana details the story of the “Wanderer,” the penultimate ship to illegally transport enslaved people into the U.S.

Norman Granz and Ella Fitzgerald at a microphone, 1950.

Smithsonian Voices

How Norman Granz Revolutionized Jazz for Social Justice

Often remembered for his artful management of legendary jazz musicians, but Granz also saw the potential for themusic to combat racial inequality

This month's book picks include African Europeans, X Troop and Chasing the Thrill.

Books of the Month

African Europeans, Jewish Commandos of WWII and Other New Books to Read

These May releases elevate overlooked stories and offer insights on oft-discussed topics

Following a 1985 police bombing that left 11 dead, mourners stand in front of MOVE's former headquarters, raising their arms in the Black Power salute as the funeral procession for leader John Africa passes.

Museum Kept Bones of Black Children Killed in 1985 Police Bombing in Storage for Decades

Outrage erupted over the revelation that the likely remains of two young victims were held in and studied at Ivy League institutions

Harriet Tubman likely lived in the Maryland cabin between 1839 and 1844, when she was about 17 to 22 years old.

Cool Finds

Site of Harriet Tubman’s Lost Maryland Home Found After Decades-Long Search

The Underground Railroad conductor’s father, Ben Ross, received the land where the cabin once stood in the early 1840s

Roosevelt Patterson greets his grandmother, Hester Ford, during her 111th birthday party. Ford was either 115 or 116 when she died on Saturday, April 17, 2021.

Hester Ford, the U.S.’ Oldest Living Person, Dies at 115—or 116

Born in 1904 or 1905, the supercentenarian lived through two World Wars, the civil rights movement and two major pandemics

Rendering of the National World War I Memorial's wall of remembrance, which is set to be installed in 2024

How D.C.’s Newly Unveiled WWI Memorial Commemorates the Global Conflict

The space’s central feature, a 60-foot-long wall of remembrance, remains unfinished

Cpl. Lawrence McVey poses at attention in a photographic postcard. The word "Hero" is inscribed at the top.

The Unmatched Bravery of the Harlem Hellfighters

A salute to the all-Black World War I fighting unit

On January 20, 2021, poet Amanda Gorman read her her poem "The Hill We Climb" during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Why Poetry Is Experiencing an Awakening

Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of April’s National Poetry Month with these workshops from the National Museum of African American History and Culture

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