What Did the Rebel Yell Sound Like?

Fannie Lou Hamer, a voting rights activist, suffered unspeakable violence and intimidation at the hands of white supremacists and police. Her response: to elevate her cause by launching a long-shot campaign for the U.S. Senate

Fannie Lou Hamer Risked Her Life for the Right to Vote (4:15)

The Black Death of 1348 was a devastating event, wiping out half the population of Britain. And in churches like this one, drawings on the wall provide a haunting visual record of the scale of the tragedy.

This Church Has an Eerie Visual Record of the Black Death (2:53)

What role does the media play in the fight for freedom and equality? And what role should it play? Join MTV News host Dometi Pongo and Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III as they discuss the Freedom Riders, citizen journalism, media representation and image-making as it relates to civil rights.

Conversations in Context: Media (10:01)

On July 28, 1917, about 10,000 Black men, women, and children marched silently down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in one of the very first civil rights protests. Learn how, through marching for freedom and fairness, African Americans have fought to create a better America for everyone.

Conversations in Context: Marches (10:09)

History was never meant to be permanent; our understanding of what really happened should evolve over time. Join MTV News host Dometi Pongo and Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III as they discuss how we remember the past, from slavery narratives to Confederate monuments, and what we're meant to learn from it.

Conversations in Context: Memory (12:27)

In 1942, the Japanese were bearing down on the Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur was based. To help him escape, the Navy relied on a small but heavily armed class of ships: the PT boat.

How PT Boats Helped General MacArthur Escape Capture (3:39)

Greg Spriggs and Jim Moye are on a mission: to declassify all valuable film footage that exists of every U.S. nuclear test ever conducted.

Bringing Classified Nuclear Test Footage to the Public (1:47)

Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, on how MLK's assassination affected all Americans and how the civil rights leader ultimately embodied of the best of our nation.

History in Context: The Impact of MLK's Assassination (1:20)

This episode of "Conversations in Context," an interview series with Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, examines key movements in black history, from Civil-Rights-era protests like the Greensboro sit-in to Black Lives Matter, and explores what lessons today’s movement can learn from the past.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch on the History of Protest in America (11:33)