Communities

Adam W. McKinney dances in front of a former KKK headquarters in Fort Worth. 

Past Imperfect

Texas Artists Are Taking Over—and Transforming—a Former KKK Building

Those once terrorized by the Klan will decide on the center's events and programming

"American Girl (above: the new doll Evette Peters) was seeking to emphasize to its young audience the importance of being able to envision themselves as part of the larger American story," writes the Smithsonian's Katrina Lashley. "And that vision requires more accessible histories, as well as role models in civic engagement."

Why This American Girl Doll Inspires Environmental Activism

The story of Evette Peters is bolstered by the Anacostia Community Museum's research into Washington D.C.'s local neighborhoods and urban waterways

“You become a little bit of a fixture in the community,” says Stewart, seen here in San Diego.

The Veterinarian Brings His Healing Presence to Pets of the Unhoused

Kwane Stewart discovers the little-known world of generosity and love

Award-winning filmmaker Janay Kelley honed her skills in the video lab in Cloud901. The state-of-the-art teen learning facility is one of the biggest and best of its kind.

How Memphis Created the Nation's Most Innovative Public Library

You can play the ukulele, learn photography or record a song in a top-flight studio. You can also check out a book

During the 2017 Grocery Walk, more than 500 protestors demanded greater investment in food access programs and healthy food retail options in a local Washington D.C. community.

In a City Flush With Power and Wealth, D.C.'s Ward 8 Faces Food Inequity

Eleven percent of U.S. households experience hunger; an expansive, new exhibition focuses how a local community manages this national problem

The Anacostia Community Museum was able to serve incarcerated audiences through use of newly issued tablets at the D.C. Jail.

Smithsonian Voices

Reaching Out to Those Behind Bars

Learn how the Anacostia Community Museum redesigned its acclaimed exhibition "Men of Change" as a digital offering for incarcerated audiences

The Sound of Our Resurrection Is Stronger Than the Silence of Death is what McCormick and Calhoun call their picture of A Chosen Few Brass Band, photographed in the city’s Treme neighborhood in the 1980s.

Photographs Salvaged From Hurricane Katrina Recall Life in New Orleans

Making art out of disaster, two photographers reexamine these affectionate portraits of life in the Crescent City

Custard apple trees—a freshwater version of mangroves once ringed Lake Okeechobee’s southern shore in a three-mile-wide belt. Today, barely 100 acres remain.

The Strange Beauty at the Edge of the Everglades

Chronicling the historic struggles of the Florida farming community known as Belle Glade

“The Co-Lab” is a first-of-its-kind collaborative design experience where museumgoers can build virtual future communities in real time, alongside artificial intelligence (A.I.) acting as a design partner.

Futures

What If Humans and Artificial Intelligence Teamed Up to Build Better Communities?

Smithsonian’s 'Futures' exhibition team and Autodesk announce groundbreaking interactive experience to showcase a bold new problem-solving philosophy

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Remembering Tulsa

The Unrealized Promise of Oklahoma

How the push for statehood led a beacon of racial progress to oppression and violence

The exhibition is on view near a neighborhood recreation center that holds classes and homework time, even during the pandemic, and an all-boys high school. "I just feel like this block amplifies all of the messages expressed in the exhibit," says one of the show's organizers.

In a Covid-Affected Washington, D.C. Neighborhood, Black History Is Reinterpreted on a City Block

A powerful outdoor exhibition amplifies a message of "pride, tenacity and possibility"

Researchers discovered 29 graves at the original site of the North Greenwood Cemetery, which operated in Clearwater, Florida, between 1940 and 1954. Pictured: An aerial view of Clearwater, circa 1930–45

Florida Archaeologists Find 29 Unmarked Graves at Site of Razed Black Cemetery

Authorities moved the historically African American burial ground to make way for a high school and city pool in the 1950s

Two filmmakers launched a nationwide fundraiser to help save the surviving bars.

LGBTQ+ Pride

The Rise and Fall of America's Lesbian Bars

Only 15 nightlife spaces dedicated to queer and gay women remain in the United States

For nearly four decades, Alexander has lived on various heating grates in Southwest D.C., which is why he introduced himself as “Alexander the Grate.”

A Street-Wise Philosopher Explains What It Means to Be Homeless Amid the Pandemic

Smithsonian Folklorist James Deutsch interviews the Washington D.C. man, "Alexander the Grate," about living in the "interstices of the infrastructure"

The Metcalfs—Joni, 57, and Derek, 60—married in August 1983 and raised four children. When Derek lost his job with the federal government, they eventually ended up living in the streets. Recently, they found permanent housing.

A Washington, D.C. Couple Shares How the Pandemic Complicates Homelessness

Smithsonian curator James Deutsch speaks with the Metcalfs, who have long lived on the streets

The Anacostia Community Museum wants to know not just how you’re surviving this moment, but how you’re being resilient.

In This Historical Moment, Here’s How to Collect Your Thoughts

The Anacostia Community Museum wants your story for its new archive #Moments of Resilience

It wasn’t until the 1964 elections that city residents could participate in presidential elections. “It’s only then that Washingtonians got two electoral seats,” says historian Marjorie Lightman.

The History of D.C.'s Epic and Unfinished Struggle for Statehood and Self-Governance

Control of the federal city was long dictated by Congress until residents took a stand beginning in the 1960s

Marta Martínez interviews a local resident for her oral history project.

Covid-19

How Oral History Projects Are Being Stymied by COVID-19

As the current pandemic ravages minority communities, historians are scrambling to continue work that preserves cultural heritage

On April 22, 1970, a local community rose up after many unwanted intrusions into their neighborhood, including the building of the I-5 freeway. Today, Chicano Park with its monumental murals is a National Historic Landmark.

Fifty Years Ago, Fed Up With the City’s Neglect, a San Diego Community Rose Up to Create Chicano Park

Making Tierra Mía, says the director of the Smithsonian Latino Center, proved transformative in giving voice to the people

John Kinard, the first African American to head a Smithsonian museum, took the helm of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in 1967. The museum was housed in a former theater on Nichols Street in a Southeast neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Fifty Years Ago, the Idea of a Museum for the People Came of Age

A Smithsonian symposium asked experts to weigh in on the strength of the community museum and chart its way forward

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