Special Report

Race in America

To mark the Smithsonian's multi-year initiative, Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past, which will confront the history and legacy of race and racism through live and virtual events, pop-up exhibitions, digital resources, and other offerings, Smithsonian magazine has compiled this collection of relevant coverage.

The Smithsonian's Race and Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past initiative centers on six pillars. Getty Images

Fred Korematsu in 1983

On This Day in 1944, the Supreme Court Upheld the Executive Order That Incarcerated Over 120,000 Japanese Americans During World War II

Left, Bob Fletcher in the California fields; right, Marielle Tsukamoto beneath a flock of paper cranes, symbols of peace and resilience, at an internment exhibition at the California Museum in Sacramento.

During World War II, This Farmer Risked Everything to Help His Japanese American Neighbors

The Island, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, single-channel video, color, 5.1 surround sound, 42 minutes, 2017

See a Film That Reimagines History on the Malaysian Island That Served as a Refugee Site After the Vietnam War

Asian American History

Artist Tyrus Wong, with kites of his own design, at California's Santa Monica Beach

How Tyrus Wong Spent 106 Years Making the World More Beautiful

Josefina "Joey" Guerrero (third from right) received the Medal of Honor With Silver Palm for her actions during World War II, which were “instrumental in saving the lives of many Americans and Filipinos,” according to the award citation.

This Filipina Spy Used Her Leprosy as a Cover to Thwart the Japanese During World War II

Francine Uenuma

Hazel Ying Lee (right) and fellow pilot Virginia Wong (left)

This Chinese American Aviatrix Overcame Racism to Fly for the U.S. During World War II

Susan Tate Ankeny

Black History

The Hermitage in Nashville is the former plantation of Andrew Jackson.

Archaeologists Discover Lost Burial Site of Enslaved People on President Andrew Jackson's Tennessee Plantation

Olatunji Osho-Williams

An 1812 illustration of a private from the Fifth West India Regiment. In the 1790s, the remaining members of the Carolina Corps became part of the newly established First West India Regiment.

These Black Soldiers Fought for the British During the American Revolution in Exchange for Freedom From Slavery

Kerry Washington stars as Charity Adams in Tyler Perry's newest film, The Six Triple Eight.

The Real Story Behind Netflix's 'The Six Triple Eight,' a New Tyler Perry Film About the Women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

By Jennie Rothenberg Gritz
Photographs by Michael A. McCoy

Latino American History

A couple visits a cemetery during Day of the Dead, against the backdrop of storm clouds.

Celebrate Day of the Dead With These 15 Scenes of Festivities and Remembrance

Text by Tracy Scott Forson
Photographs selected by Quentin Nardi

Beginning in the early 20th century, Marfa's Mexican and Mexican American students attended the one-story adobe school up to ninth grade.

New National Park Site Spotlights School Segregation in Texas

The cemetery is located near a Spanish colonial church built in Huanchaco, Peru, around 1535.

16th-Century Skeletons of Children Infected With Smallpox Discovered in Peru

Native American History

A circa 1883 photograph of Lakota leader Sitting Bull

Why Sitting Bull Was Killed by Indian Agency Police at His Cabin on the Standing Rock Reservation

John J. Egan's massive 24-panel Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the French Colonial Mississippi Valley depicts the Natchez revolt. Created in 1850, the panorama features scenes from across the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.

In a ‘Horrific’ Attack Meant to Scare the Intruders, Natchez Warriors Revolted Against the French, Killing 230 Colonists

Today’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. However, the very first Thanksgiving most likely included wildfowl, corn, porridge and venison.

What Food Was Served at the First Thanksgiving in 1621?