African American History

“One of the great things we can do at this museum is ask those questions and think about the larger significance of sports and African-Americans," says curator Damion Thomas.

Stories of Sports Champions in the African American History Museum Prove the Goal Posts Were Set Higher

The sports exhibition delves into the lost, forgotten or denied history of the heroes on the field

Why Were Electric Cars Once Advertised as 'Ladies' Cars'?

Your questions answered by our experts

Oil portrait of Barack Obama by Kadir Nelson

A Portrait of Obama in the Final Days of His Presidency

Commissioned for <em>Smithsonian</em> magazine, this painting shows a leader at a crossroads

A Sonic Boom drum major dashes across the field.

March to the Joyous, Raucous Beat of the Sonic Boom of the South

College football seasons come and go, but the joyous thunder of Jackson State's iconic marching band rolls on

Richard and Mildred Loving by Grey Villet, 1965

When the Serendipitously Named Lovings Fell in Love, Their World Fell Apart

The new film captures the quiet essence of the couples’ powerful story, says Smithsonian scholar Christopher Wilson

The American holiday celebrating African traditions is 50 years old this year.

This Year Marks the 50th Kwanzaa

The week-long holiday is a celebration of African-American culture

Williams is perhaps best known for his iconic Theme Building, a space-age structure at Los Angeles International Airport.

Why You Should Know Trailblazing Architect Paul Revere Williams

Almost four decades after his death, the African-American architect whose work came to define Los Angeles gets his due

After the 2016 election, several hundred students at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, walked out of the classrooms in protest.

Finding Lessons for Today’s Protests in the History of Political Activism

A whirlwind of action, both organized and organic, supported by legal defense teams brought historic change

We asked Smithsonian scholars to make book recommendations to our readers for this holiday season of gift giving.

Increase and Diffuse Knowledge for the Holidays With These Smithsonian Curated Books

Books recommended by Smithsonian Institution scholars

A booking photo from Rosa Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955.

Sixty-Six Years After Rosa Parks Took a Seat in Montgomery, Protest Is Alive in America

The civil rights leader likely would have approved of current activists' work

Where Did Harriet Tubman Escape to and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Activists picketing at a demonstration for housing equality while uniformed American Nazi Party members counterprotest in the background with signs displaying anti-integration slogans and racist epithets.

This Photo Book Is a Reminder That the Civil Rights Movement Extended Far Beyond the Deep South

Public historian Mark Speltz's new book is full of images that aren't typically part of the 1960s narrative

A statue of the former slave Clara Brown, who was born into slavery in 1800. She married and had four children, but the family was broken up and sold at auction.

In “Defending Freedom,” the Vanguards Who Refused to Be Suppressed Are Reunited

At the African American History Museum, this exhibition graphically conveys the trials and triumphs in the battle for Civil Rights

Gwen Ifill died today. She was 61.

Five Things to Know About Gwen Ifill

The late, great reporter turned curiosity into a career that changed journalism

A lobby card for Gunsaulus Mystery, a 1921 silent film written, directed and produced by Oscar Micheaux, an early black silent film auteur.

Explore the Flickering, Forgotten Past of African-Americans in Silent Film

An estimated 80 percent of silent movies with all-black casts are thought to be lost, but a new project is making sure the people who made them aren't

Freeman Fisher Gosden and Charles Correll, c. 1935 (detail), as "Amos and Andy"

The Long, Unfortunate History of Racial Parody in America

Art historian Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw discusses the painful performative origins

Founder of the Black Panther Party Bobby Seale stands next to a wall graphic of the Party's Ten-Point Program inside the Oakland Museum of California's exhibition, "All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50."

The Black Panthers Were Founded 50 Years Ago, and Their Influence Hasn’t Waned

Group founder Bobby Seale reflects on the Panthers’ iconic Ten-Point Program

"Bird," 1990, David Hammons, painted metal, wire, basketball and feathers.

This $1.4 Million "Bird" Makes an African-American Art Collection Soar to New Heights

With his first major contemporary acquisition, the Detroit Institute of Arts' new director is reinvigorating the museum

When Was the First Map Produced and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

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

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

Page 46 of 54