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African American History

A nurse training program at the Central State Hospital.

Cool Finds

Psychiatric Records for African American Patients Are Rare, And This Hospital Has a Century’s Worth

Researchers are attempting to digitize and preserve the tens of thousands of patient records from the Central State Hospital

When Cassius Clay Signed His Gloves With a Prediction of His Future Greatness

In 1964, a 22-year-old Cassius Clay was largely untested as a pro. Then he stepped into the ring

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The Stark Reminders of the Birmingham Church Bombing

Upon the 60th anniversary of the tragic attack, these stained glass shards recall the day that saw four girls killed in Alabama

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Slave Cabin Set to Become Centerpiece of New Smithsonian Museum

A slave cabin from a South Carolina plantation is being shipped to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Today is Juneteenth, the Most Important Holiday No One Knows About

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Breaking Ground

Shovels Break Ground for the New National Museum of African American History and Culture

Dignitaries plunge their shovels into a small rectangle of dirt, marking the groundbreaking for the 19th Smithsonian museum

Growing up in multiple countries has allowed architect David Adjaye to always be highly sensitive to the cultural framework of different peoples in his designs.

Breaking Ground

Q&A: Architect David Adjaye On His Vision for the New Museum

The designer of the National Museum of African American History and Culture talks about his vision for the new building

The PT-13D prepared Tuskegee Airmen for war.

Breaking Ground

The Tuskegee Airmen Plane’s Last Flight

The final voyage of a World War II biplane evokes the exploits of the legendary fighting force

In 1849, Harriet Tubman fled Maryland to Philadelphia. Soon after, Tubman began her exploits—acts of bravery that would make her a legend.

Breaking Ground

Harriet Tubman’s Hymnal Evokes a Life Devoted to Liberation

A hymnal owned by the brave leader of the Underground Railroad brings new insights into the life of the American heroine

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Breaking Ground

The History Behind a Slave’s Bill of Sale

On a worn, aged piece of paper dated 1835, a judge describes the sale of a 16-year-old girl named Polly, with “yellow complexion and black eyes”

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine

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Author Rohulamin Quander Writes About the First African American Sorority

James Winkfield was a two-time Kentucky Derby winner and raced across Europe after racism kept him from being the best athlete in America's most popular sport.

The Kentucky Derby’s Forgotten Jockeys

African American jockeys once dominated the track. But by 1921, they had disappeared from the Kentucky Derby

The Gullah Geechee perform an ancestral ceremony on Sullivan's Island.

Summertime for Gershwin

In the South, the Gullah struggle to keep their traditions alive

The African American DNA Roots Project is a molecular anthropology study designed to match African American lineages with those in West Africa, a region from which many slaves were taken.

Family Ties

African Americans use scientific advances to trace their roots

Ray Charles' Ray-Bans, his celebrity trademark, are held in the collections of the National Museum of American History.

Ray Charles’ Fusion of Gospel and Blues Changed the Face of American Popular Music

A visionary virtuoso, Charles made brilliance look easy

Slave hire badges. National Museum of American History

Copper Neck Tags Evoke the Experience of American Slaves Hired Out as Part-Time Laborers

From the mid-18th century to the end of the Civil War, owners marketed the labor and skills of their slaves

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Images of African-Americans Illuminate a Proud Past

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Making Art Accessible

Roslyn Walker plans to extend the African museum into the classroom and send exhibits on the road

Buffalo soldiers of the 25th Infantry, some wearing buffalo robes, Ft. Keogh, Montana

Buffalo Soldiers

For decades, African-American Regulars were the most effective troops on the western frontier

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