This Exhibition Spotlights the Black Artists Who Called France Home in the 20th Century
A blockbuster show at the Centre Pompidou in Paris spotlights 300-plus works by 150 artists of African heritage
New Museum Examines the History of American Public Housing—and the Stories of Its Residents
Located in a preserved 1930s development in Chicago’s West Side, the museum includes three recreated apartments representing families of different decades and demographics
![Senator Joseph McCarthy “comes along really chronologically halfway through the story [in the early 1950s], and there’s a lot that happened before he was even on the scene,” says author Clay Risen.](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/ee-zkNhyyeZSehRcxDnYUB-QAj4=/450x300/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/dd/f0/ddf0fc8a-56de-40d6-ae40-efcb46ac804b/gettyimages-515261284.jpg)
Newly Declassified Documents Reveal the Untold Stories of the Red Scare, a Hunt for Communists in Postwar America
In his latest book, journalist and historian Clay Risen explores how the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy upended the nation
The Moving Story of Bringing Baseball Back to Manzanar, Where Thousands of Japanese Americans Were Incarcerated During World War II
In honor of his mother and others imprisoned at the internment camp, baseball player Dan Kwong has restored a diamond in the California desert
Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech
Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the height of Henry’s influence. But the politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government after the American Revolution
Nearly 200 Captivating Photographs Spotlight a Century of Protest in Britain
Titled “Resistance,” a new exhibition curated by filmmaker Steve McQueen examines 100 years of struggles against the status quo, from women’s suffrage to the war in Iraq
Eight Never-Before-Seen Short Stories by ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Author Harper Lee Will Be Published This Year
After Lee’s death in 2016, typescripts of her early fiction were discovered in her New York apartment. The previously unseen drafts offer new insights into her creative development
A Mystery Surrounding the Grave of JFK Is Solved
A sculpture recognizing a spontaneous gesture of affection towards the slain president vanished into thin air more than half a century ago. Here’s the story of how it was just recently rediscovered.
How a Leading Black Historian Uncovered Her Own Family’s Painful Past—and Why Her Ancestors’ Stories Give Her Hope
Martha S. Jones’ new memoir draws on genealogical research and memories shared by relatives
Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries
These 15 Photos Capture What Makes America’s National Historic Landmarks So Iconic
See images of special attractions across the country from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest
Can You Identify the Mystery Photographer Who Captured Thousands of Captivating Images of 1960s San Francisco?
Discovered in an abandoned storage locker, the 2,042 processed color slides and 102 rolls of black-and-white film depict key moments in the city’s history
From the Antebellum South to the Civil Rights Movement, Black American Women Have Long Told Their Stories Through Quilts
In a new exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, over 30 works showcase the significance of this quilting tradition
Discover How Four Black College Students Sparked a Nationwide Civil Rights Movement, on This Date in 1960
By sitting down to lunch at a North Carolina department store, the brave men inspired many others to take part in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience
These 15 Photos Show the People and Places of American Streets Named After Martin Luther King Jr.
On a journey to six cities across the country over the course of seven years, a photographer captured images of the roads that bear the civil rights leader’s name
These Five Trailblazing American Women Will Be Featured on Quarters in 2025
The U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program has announced its fourth and final group of honorees from throughout American history
The Ten Best History Books of 2024
Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today
New Statue Honoring Civil Rights Activist John Lewis Unveiled in His Home State of Alabama
The life-sized bronze sculpture of the congressman joins statues of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks in the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Plaza in Montgomery
The Surprising Artwork That Inspired Netflix’s ‘The Piano Lesson,’ a New Movie Based on August Wilson’s Award-Winning Play
A Romare Bearden print served as a starting point for the American playwright’s 1987 drama, which follows a Black family’s struggle to decide the fate of an ancestral heirloom
When White Supremacists Staged the Only Successful Coup in U.S. History
The 1898 Wilmington massacre left dozens of Black North Carolinians dead. Conspirators also forced the city’s multiracial government to resign at gunpoint
These Black Americans Were Killed for Exercising Their Political Right to Vote
In the Jim Crow South, activists became martyrs at the hands of white racists, all for the just cause of using the vote to fight for equality and freedom
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