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Slavery

Did John Adams Out Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings?

A scholar makes the intriguing case that Adams gossiped about the relationship years before the news erupted in public

The stacked bricks represent the people enslaved by President Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and include his own children and their mother Sally Hemings.

Breaking Ground

At the New “Slavery and Freedom” Show, a Mother Finds an Empowering Message for Her Young Daughters

A child’s shackles, a whip, and an auction block deliver a visceral experience of slavery

The West Front of Mount Vernon, by Edward Savage, 1787-1792

In a Groundbreaking Exhibit at Mount Vernon, Slaves Speak and History Listens

Life at the home of George Washington is told anew

Understanding the Gospel of Nat Turner

The leader of the deadly slave revolt had a deep Christian faith that propelled his rebellious actions

A late-18th century painting of George and Martha Washington with their adoptive children, George Washington Parke Custis and Nelly Custis, as well as one of their slaves.

Trending Today

George Washington’s Biracial Family Is Getting New Recognition

The National Park Service is finally acknowledging the first president’s biracial family

Conservationists assess the bell, which was not rung throughout much of the 20th century after it fell into disrepair.

Breaking Ground

Historic Bell Helps Ring in New African American History Museum

Why President Obama won’t cut a ribbon when the new museum opens this Saturday

It is thought that Nat Turner was holding this Bible when he was captured two months after the rebellion he led against slaveholders in Southampton County, Virginia.

Breaking Ground

Nat Turner’s Bible Gave the Enslaved Rebel the Resolve to Rise Up

A Bible belonging to the enslaved Turner spoke of possibility says curator Rex Ellis of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Jones-Hall-Sims House, stripped down from 140 years of additions and siding, was acquired in 2009 by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and has been rebuilt as part of an exhibition called “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation.”

Breaking Ground

For Nearly 150 Years, This One House Told a Novel Story About the African-American Experience

On view in the new museum, the woodframe dwelling evokes the aspirations and limitations of the era following enslavement

Once 2,000 square miles in Virginia and North Carolina, the swamp today is perhaps one-tenth that size.

Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom

The Great Dismal Swamp was once a thriving refuge for runaways

Breaking Ground

The Powerful Objects From the Collections of the Smithsonian’s Newest Museum

These artifacts each tell a part of the African-American story

From Slavery to Mass Incarceration will be a museum dedicated to the history of racial injustice in America, and will be located just steps from a site where slaves were auctioned off.

Cool Finds

Inside the Upcoming Memorial and Museum Dedicated to Lynching Victims

Spanning slavery to segregation to mass incarceration

How the American Civil War Built Egypt’s Vaunted Cotton Industry and Changed the Country Forever

The battle between the U.S. and the Confederacy affected global trade in astonishing ways

Sojourner Truth, tech pioneer.

Cool Finds

How Sojourner Truth Used Photography to Help End Slavery

The groundbreaking orator embraced newfangled technology to make her message heard

Earliest known photograph of the White House. The image was taken in 1846 by John Plumbe during the administration of James K. Polk.

Trending Today

The White House Was, in Fact, Built by Enslaved Labor

Along with the Capitol and other iconic buildings in Washington, D.C.

An artist's rendition of the Rio Olympics facilities for the 2016 Summer Games. Some of the media accommodations were apparently built on top of remnants of Brazil's slave history.

Trending Today

The Media Village at the Rio Olympics Is Built on a Mass Grave of Slaves

As Brazil looks forward to an Olympic future, it buries its past

Ballast from the first historically documented ship carrying enslaved Africans that wrecked off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa in December 1794.

Breaking Ground

Few Artifacts of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Still Exist. These Iron Blocks Help Tell That Gut-Wrenching Story

A profound symbol of the horrific conditions aboard a slave ship is the ballast used as a counterweight for human cargo

By the “dawn’s early light,” Key saw the huge garrison flag, now on view at the National Museum of American History, waving above Fort McHenry and he realized that the Americans had survived the battle and stopped the enemy advance.

Commentary

Where’s the Debate on Francis Scott Key’s Slave-Holding Legacy?

During his lifetime, abolitionists ridiculed Key’s words, sneering that America was more like the “Land of the Free and Home of the Oppressed”

A statue of the people present at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention can be seen at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls.

Women Who Shaped History

Five Things to Know About the Declaration of Sentiments

From seating to suffrage, here’s why the document is relevant today

Studying Bacon Has Led One Smithsonian Scholar to New Insights on the Daily Life of Enslaved African-Americans

At Camp Bacon, a thinking person’s antidote to excess, historians, filmmakers and chefs gather to pay homage to the hog and its culinary renown

An ad looking for a woman named Fanny who escaped along with her daughter. The 7-year-old girl is described as a mulatto, which could suggest she is the daughter of the slaveowner seeking them out.

New Research

An Archive of Fugitive Slave Ads Sheds New Light on Lost Histories

Wanted ads posted by slave owners reveal details of life under slavery

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