Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

American South

Dermacentor marginatus, female, on stomach and on back

More Than One Million Ticks Make Up This Cringe-Worthy Collection in Georgia

The U.S. National Tick Collection is the largest continuously curated collection of ticks in the world

The descendants of Cudjo Lewis and Abache (above) heard stories of the ship that tore their ancestors from their homeland and now the wreck of the Clotilda has been confirmed to be found in Alabama's Mobile River.

The ‘Clotilda,’ the Last Known Slave Ship to Arrive in the U.S., Is Found

The discovery carries intense personal meaning for an Alabama community of descendants of the ship’s survivors

152 Nassau

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

The Site of Country Music’s First Recorded Hit Is Set to Be Demolished

152 Nassau Street in Atlanta was home to the first country music recording hit made before the genre even had a name

Rhiannon Giddens is joined by Canadian-American musician-songwriter Allison Russell (Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago), Leyla McCalla (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Amythyst Kiah (Amythyst Kiah & Her Chest of Glass) for the new album Songs of Our Native Daughters.

Hitting the High Notes: A Smithsonian Year of Music

Why These Four Banjo-Playing Women Resurrected the Songs of the Enslaved

The new Folkways album “Songs of Our Native Daughters” draws spiritually from slave narratives and other pre-19th-century sources

Decommissioned oil rigs attract both sea life and scuba divers.

American South

The Gulf of Mexico’s Hottest Diving Spots Are Decommissioned Oil Rigs

These artificial reefs are proving to be prime habitats for a plethora of sea creatures

Redoshi seen in “The Negro Farmer: Extension Work for Better Farming and Better Living"

Cool Finds

Researcher Identifies the Last Living Survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Redoshi was 12 when she was kidnapped and sold to the crew of the Clotilda

A Florida manatee winters in the warm waters of Crystal River.

American South

There’s Only One Place in the United States Where It’s Legal to Swim With Wild Manatees

In Citrus County, Florida, hundreds of the gentle giants winter in the warm waters of Crystal River

Family photographs decorate the master bedroom in the home of Civil Rights leaders Medgar and Myrlie Evers.

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

Home of Civil Rights Hero Medgar Evers Is Now a National Monument

Before his assassination in 1963, Evers led civil rights demonstrations and investigated racial violence in Mississippi

First responders walk through a neighborhood in Beauregard, Alabama.

Trending Today

Deadliest Tornado Outbreak in Six Years Hits the Southeast

So far, 23 people are confirmed dead in Lee County, Alabama, after Sunday’s tornadoes

None

American South

Peek Inside the Workshop Where Mardi Gras Floats Are Made

Mardi Gras World in New Orleans offers tours of its whimsical warehouse, where visitors can see floats being constructed all year round

None

Attention Music Lovers, Here’s Why You Need to Visit Kentucky This Spring

Home to the 144-mile U.S. 23 Country Music Highway, eastern Kentucky has produced more country music stars per capita than any other U.S. region.

None

10 Reasons to Make Louisiana Your Next Travel Destination

Names smoked into the ceiling date back to the 1800s

American South

Enslaved Tour Guide Stephen Bishop Made Mammoth Cave the Must-See Destination It Is Today

In the 1830s and ‘40s, the pioneering spelunker mapped out many of the underground system’s most popular spots

A photograph by Hugh Mangum from Photos Day or Night: The Archive of Hugh Mangum, edited by Sarah Stacke with texts by Maurice Wallace and Martha Sumler, Hugh Mangum’s granddaughter.

Photographer’s Innovative Pictures Captured Lesser-Seen Faces of Jim Crow South

Hugh Mangum’s portraits reveal his subjects’ array of emotions and defy stereotypical snapshots

A man walks past the covered Confederate monument in Linn Park on August 18, 2017.

Alabama Judge Overturns Law That Protected Confederate Monuments

The city of Birmingham was sued when it erected plywood around a Confederate memorial in a downtown park

A section of the 18,000-square-foot Cyclorama depicts a pivotal moment: Lt Edward Jones, on horseback, racing to reinforce the Federal line.

American South

Atlanta’s Famed Cyclorama Mural Will Tell the Truth About the Civil War Once Again

One of the war’s greatest battles was fought again and again on a spectacular canvas nearly 400 feet long. At last, the real history is being restored

At Beauvoir this past October, Jim Huffman, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, showed students the 1863 battle flag of the Army of Tennessee.

The Costs of the Confederacy

In the last decade alone, American taxpayers have spent at least $40 million on Confederate monuments and groups that perpetuate racist ideology

Untitled (Wash Day: Scrubbing the Clothes) by Clementine Hunter, ca. 1965

Self-Taught Artist Clementine Hunter Painted the Bold Hues of Southern Life

On view at NMAAHC, Hunter’s colorful artworks depict work in the field, church on Sundays, and laundry on the line

The residents and tribal members of Isle de Jean Charles are the first federally-funded community to be moved because of environmental degradation and displacement.

Prospects Are Looking Up for This Gulf Coast Tribe Relocating to Higher Ground

As Louisiana’s Isle de Jean Charles slips away, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe plans community renewal and a museum for their new home

Conservators working on the H.L. Hunley

Cool Finds

New Clues About Why the Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley Sank

An emergency keel-block release suggests the crew did not panic, meaning they may have been incapacitated when the sub went down

Page 10 of 11