Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

African American History

Marshall was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

The Case Thurgood Marshall Never Forgot

Fifty years ago today, Thurgood Marshall became a Supreme Court justice. He kept telling the story of the Groveland Four

On May 18, 1893, Anna Julia Cooper delivered an address at the World's Congress of Representative Women, saying, famously, "The white woman could least plead for her own emancipation; the black woman, doubly enslaved, could but suffer and struggle and be silent."

This Video Breaks Down the ABCs of Intersectionality

The National Museum of African American History and Culture explores the long legacy of women who shaped the feminist sociological theory

Tuskegee Airmen and P-47

Why African-American Soldiers Saw World War II as a Two-Front Battle

Drawing the connection between fascism abroad and hate at home, pre-Civil Rights activists declared the necessity of “double victory”

Unionville today: The photographer used a process called intaglio printing to give her pictures an antique appearance.

Secrets of American History

After the Civil War, African-American Veterans Created a Home of Their Own: Unionville

One-hundred-fifty years later, the Maryland town remains a bastion of resilience and a front line in the battle over Confederate monuments

Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial features General Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis—and has stirred up controversy in Georgia for years.

History of Now

What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America’s Largest Confederate Memorial?

The Georgia landmark is a testament to the enduring legacy of white supremacy

"Our hearts are with the families of the victims—the three who lost their lives, the 35 injured and the millions across the country who are traumatized by this dark chapter in our nation’s history."

Smithsonian’s African American History Museum Releases Statement on Charlottesville and Confederate Memorials

The events, says director Lonnie Bunch, are part of a ‘long legacy of violence intended to intimidate and marginalize African Americans and Jews’

Florence Harding put up with a lot during her life, including Warren G. Harding's constant philandering.

Florence Harding, Not Eleanor Roosevelt, May Have Created the Modern First Lady

She did things her own way, and helped to set a precedent for the First Ladies who followed her

Rashid Johnson, "Thurgood in the House of Chaos"

Brooklyn Museum’s ‘Legacy of Lynching’ Exhibition Confronts Racial Terror

Video testimony and research findings supplement selections from the museum’s holdings

William Maples holds a bone fragment during a presentation about the Romanov Investigations, circa 1992.

William R. Maples Popularized Forensic Anthropology Long Before CSI

Maples worked on a number of high-profile cases that helped to bring the field of forensic anthropology to prominence

Christylez Bacon at the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Christylez Bacon on Finding His Voice through Music

The Grammy-nominated artist takes inspiration from weaving together seemingly disparate musical forms

A census enumerator's records from the 1790 census, the first-ever to be conducted in the United States.

The First US Census Only Asked Six Questions

America’s founders agreed that the census was important, but it wasn’t long

Michael Twitty, a culinary historian and living-history interpreter at the Stagville Plantation in Durham, North Carolina.

Food Historian Reckons With the Black Roots of Southern Food

In his new book, Michael Twitty shares the contributions that enslaved African-Americans and their descendants have made to southern cuisine

A member of the 9th Cavalry circa 1890.

Three Things to Know About the Buffalo Soldiers

These segregated regiments offered black soldiers a chance to fight for their rights

Firemen fight to control blazing buildings in Detroit on July 25, 1967. The city was filled with gunfire, looting and police officers for five days that July.

Understanding Detroit’s 1967 Upheaval 50 Years Later

For five days in July, the Motor City was under siege from looters and soldiers alike

This 1861 cartoon of the Bull Run battlefield includes a portrayal of watching House members and "ladies as spectators."

Was the First Battle of Bull Run Really ‘The Picnic Battle’?

Yep. But it was anything but frivolous

Charlotte Woodward Pierce was just a teenager when she signed the pro-women's-rights "Declaration of Sentiments." She was the only signer of that document to live to see women get the vote.

Only One Woman Who Was at the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention Lived to See Women Win the Vote

Charlotte Woodward Pierce was a teenager at the Seneca Falls convention for women’s rights. She was 91 when women finally went to vote in 1920

Barkley L. Hendricks, "Icon for My Man Superman (Superman Never Saved any Black People – Bobby Seale)," 1969

Trending Today

Revolutionary Black Artists of the Civil Rights Era Get Exhibition in the UK

“Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” features iconic works alongside pieces that have long been overlooked by the mainstream

Two National Guard escort an African-American man in the tense summer weeks of 1917 in East St. Louis, Illinois.

The East St. Louis Race Riot Left Dozens Dead, Devastating a Community on the Rise

Three days of violence forced African-American families to run for their lives and the aftereffects are still felt in the Illinois city today

In traditional British cuisine, chicken would be far more likely to be boiled than fried.

The First Printed Fried Chicken Recipe in America

A white Virginian woman named Mary Randolph was the first to publish it, but fried chicken’s Southern history is deeper than ‘The Virginia Housewife’

Trained and created for UniverSoul Circus in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Pizza Posse marries acrobatics to slap stick comedy.

Two Circus Pros Juggle History and Race to Springboard Black Entertainers

Cedric Walker and Veronica Blair share a common fascination for the history of African-American circus

Page 48 of 60