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Exhibits and Collections

Portrait of Frederick Douglass, oil canvas.

One Life: Frederick Douglass

“One Life: Frederick Douglass” illuminates the legacy of one of the 19th century’s most influential writers, speakers and intellectuals through prints, photographs and ephemera.

Image Credit: Frederick Douglass /Unidentified Artist, Former attribution: Elisha Livermore Hammond (1779 - 1882) / c. 1845, Oil on canvas / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Past Highlights

Logo of the “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” exhibition.

Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures

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Searchable museum splash image

National Museum of African American History and Culture's Searchable Museum

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Head-and-shoulders portrait of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass Newspapers Collection

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Selected Resources

Abraham Lincoln Papers (Library of Congress) A Day Like No Other: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington (Library of Congress) Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights History Project (Smithsonian Institution) Black Americans and the Vote (National Archives) The Black Power Movement (National Archives) Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling (National Archives) Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963 (Smithsonian Institution) The Charles W. Chestnut Archive from University of Nebraska (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Civil Rights Act of 1964 (National Archives) The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom (Library of Congress)
Civil Right History Project Collection (Library of Congress)
Confrontation Between Black Demonstrators and Segregationists at a "White Only" Beach (World Digital Library) Documents from the Tulsa Race Massacre (National Archives) Ella Jenkins, a Hidden Figure in the Fight for Civil Rights (Smithsonian Institution) ”Everything was burned down to the ground“: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (National Archives) Frederick Douglass Newspapers Collection, 1847 to 1874 (Library of Congress) The Frederick Douglass Papers (Library of Congress) Freedom Riders (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Freedom: The African American Struggle for Rights & Justice in Words and Images (Library of Congress) From Ghana's Independence to Selma's Bloody Sunday: A Civil Rights Love Story (Smithsonian Institution) The Green Book: Documenting African American Entrepreneurs (Library of Congress) Integrated Segregated Histories from Kentucky Historical Society (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) At the Jim Crow Museum, We Use Racist Objects to Engage Hearts and Heads in Social Justice (Smithsonian Institution) Justin S. Morrill Papers: Petition of Colored Citizens of South Carolina, praying that equal rights before the law, and the elective franchise may be granted to them, [1865] (Library of Congress) Leonard Bernstein collection digitized items pertaining to civil rights (Library of Congress) The Los Angeles Riots: The Independent and Webster Commissions Collections from University of Southern California (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) March on Washington Tour from the National Archives on HistoryPin Mary Church Terrell Papers Men of Change (Smithsonian Institution) Mothers Marching for Equality: The Two-Year Fight for Integration in Hillsboro, Ohio (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) A Moral Appeal to an Amoral Society: MLK's Nonviolent Direct Action (Smithsonian Institution) NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom (Library of Congress) National Archives Black History Month Set on Flickr Official Program for the March on Washington (National Archives) The Papers of Rosa Parks (Library of Congress) Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination: Documentation by Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographer (Library of Congress) Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling (National Archives) Preserving and Sharing the Story of the Lincoln Heights Rosenwald School (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience. (National Museum of African American History and Culture) Records of Rights (National Archives) The Responsibility is Placed in Your Hands Entirely” – Red Cross Relief after the Tulsa Race Massacre (National Archives) To Show That All’s Equal: The Devoted Life and Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) Voices of Civil Rights Exhibition (Library of Congress) Voting Rights Act of 1965 (National Archives) With an Even Hand: Brown v. Board at Fifty Exhibition (Library of Congress)

#DontMuteDC: An Oral History (Smithsonian Institution) African American Newspapers, 1850 - 1963 from the Chronicling America Collection (Library of Congress) African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Exhibition (Library of Congress) African Immigrant Folklife (Smithsonian Institution) African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection (Library of Congress) African American Photographs Assembled for 1900 Paris Exposition (Library of Congress) African Digital Ethnography Project in RADAR from Morehouse College (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Black Arts Movement: 1965-1975 (National Archives) What Was Black College Life Like in the New Deal (A National Archives exhibit in the Google Cultural Institute) Black History, Indianapolis History from Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (Library of Congress) A Celebration of Brazil in D.C.: Festival Afro-Bahia (Smithsonian Institution) The Chandeliers “Looked Like Diamonds”: Stories from a White House Worker (Smithsonian Institution) Charles Mingus collection, 1939-1979 (Library of Congress) The Dana A. Dorsey Papers (National Endowment for the Humanities, Florida International University) Discover Amazing Americans: Activist Mary Church Terrell (Library of Congress) The Downtown D.C. Musical Ministry of Flora Molton (Smithsonian Institution) Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (Library of Congress) Free to Use and Reuse: African-American Women Changemakers (Library of Congress) Ginseng, Hoodoo, and the Magic of Upholding African American Earth-Based Traditions (Smithsonian Institution) "Girlhood (It's Complicated)" (Smithsonian Institution) Giving Back and Moving Forward: The Future of Craft Apprenticeships (Smithsonian Institution) Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture (Smithsonian Institution) Gullah Geechee Recipe: Carolina Crab Rice (Smithsonian Institution) Hazel Scott papers, 1924-1986 (Library of Congress) Hire a Mardi Gras Artist: Building House Floats and Community Resilience (Smithsonian Institution) How Alicia D. Williams Is Reviving Storytelling for Black Children (Smithsonian Institution) In Craft Collectives, Black Artists Find Community and Sanctuary It's More Than “Just” Hair: Revitalization of Black Identity (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2021/james-van-der-zee-photographs-portrait-harlem.html Jazz at Church: Music, Sanctuary, and Cultural Transformation in Southwest D.C. (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) A Language of Rhythm Inspires Milwaukee's African Diaspora (Smithsonian Institution) La Prochaine Génération: The Next Generation of Louisiana French Speakers (Smithsonian Institution) Making History in Miniature: Scenes of Black Life and Community by Karen Collins (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) McNeill Collection Daguerreotypes (Library of Congress) People in Black History (National Archives) The Play that Electrified Harlem: Shakespeare's Macbeth and the Federal Theatre Project (Library of Congress) Portrait of Black Chicago (National Archives) Robert H. McNeill Papers—Finding Aid (Library of Congress) Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words (Library of Congress) Ralph Ellison Collection (Library of Congress) Rhode Island Folklife Project Collection (Library of Congress) Sacred Monsters: The Poetry and Fiction of Elizabeth Acevedo (Smithsonian Institution) Robert H. McNeill Papers—Finding Aid (Library of Congress) South Central Georgia Field Project Collection (Library of Congress) Stories of Southern Maryland from College of Southern Maryland (funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Stories to Tell: Carolyn Mazloomi and the Women of Color Quilters Network in 2020 (Smithsonian Institution) StoryCorps Griot Project (Smithsonian Institution/CPB) The Will to Adorn: African American Dress and the Aesthetics of Identity “You Gotta Get It Right”: An Appreciation for Documentarian Roland Freeman

African American Band Music and Recordings, 1883-1923 (Library of Congress) Afrika Bambaataa Vinyl Collection from Cornell University (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Afropunk: The Alternative Black Experience (Smithsonian Institution) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: 50 Years Cultural Ambassador to the World (Library of Congress) Black Composers: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress Black History in Roots Reggae Music (Smithsonian Institution) Black Musicians' Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots (Smithsonian Institution) Blog posts related to African American History from Library of Congress' In the Muse: Performing Arts blog Dancing into Epiphanies with House Music: DJ Duane Powell’s Sunday Service “Each Quilt Can Tell You a Story”: An Interview with Sylvia G. Stephens Fran Grace and the Bountiful, Blessed Blues of the Sacred Steel The William Franklin Grisham Collection from Chicago Film Archives (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) How Laura Veirs Introduced a New Generation to the Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) How REBOLU's Afro-Infused Rhythms Bridge New York City and the Colombian Coast (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) Jazz Singers (Library of Congress) Katherine Dunham Collection (Library of Congress) Look at Us Now: Black Artists in Music and Fashion (Smithsonian Institution) "Now What a Time": Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943 (Library of Congress) Photos of the Harlem Renaissance (Library of Congress) Ragtime (Library of Congress) Rhythm and Blues (Smithsonian Institution) Session Notes from Songs of Our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Institution) Shop Vibes: HR Records Is Preserving D.C. Community and Culture (Smithsonian Institution) Song of America: Ethiopia Saluting the Colors (Library of Congress) Sons of Ethiopia: A Snapshot of Admas and D.C. Music in the 1980s (Smithsonian Institution) The Sound of Resistance in Puerto Rico: Bomba Connects La Perla Community (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip (Library of Congress) A Tribute to Tito Matos in Music and Film (Smithsonian Institution) William P. Gottlieb Collection of Jazz Photography (Library of Congress) The Zora Neale Hurston Plays (Library of Congress)

400 Years of African American History (National Park Service) Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 (Library of Congress) D.C.'s Slave Trade Ended Here, Next Door to the Smithsonian The District of Columbia Emancipation Act (National Archives) The Emancipation Proclamation (National Archives) From Slavery to Freedom: The African American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909 (Library of Congress) Grabo. The Armistad [sic] Negroes, Drawn from Life, by Wm. H. Townsend. (Library of Congress) The Meaning and Making of Emancipation eBook (National Archives) Omar Ibn Said Collection (Library of Congress) Original 'Juneteenth' General Order (National Archives) Portrait of Mauma Mollie (World Digital Library) Slave Societies Digital Archive (Vanderbilt University & National Endowment for the Humanities) Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 (Library of Congress) Slavery & Abolition (National Park Service) Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty (Smithsonian Institution & The Thomas Jefferson Foundation) Thompson and Chesson Scrapbooks: Scrapbooks related to the abolition of slavery, (19 scrapbooks)(Library of Congress) Uncle Tom's Cabin for Children, 1908 (Library of Congress) Underground Railroad Quilt Codes: What We Know, What We Believe, and What Inspires Us (Smithsonian Institution) Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories (Library of Congress) Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave database (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)

African American Activists of the 20th Century: Selected Pictures African Americans in Business and Entrepreneurship The African American Mosaic: Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture African American Sites in the Digital Collections Afro-American Genealogical Research African American Women in the Military and at War Billy Taylor Papers—Finding Aid Carmen McRae Collection of Musical Arrangements and Other Materials—Finding Aid Charles Mingus Collection—Finding Aid Chicago Blues and Jazz: Selections from the American Folklife Center's Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection Civil Rights History Project Collection -- Finding Aid Dexter Gordon Collection—Finding Aid Digitized Newspaper Articles related to African American History Topics (Chronicling America) Early African-American Music: A Bibliography Eric Dolphy Collection—Finding Aid Ella Fitzgerald Collection—Finding Aid Freedom in the Black Diaspora: A Resource Guide for Ayiti Reimagined Fugitive Slave Ads: Topics in Chronicling America Great Migration: Finding Pictures Gwendolyn Brooks, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1985-86 Harry Thacker Burleigh: A Guide to Resources Jazz Research at the Library of Congress Jazz Stock Arrangements: A Resource Guide Langston Hughes and His Poetry Lester Horton Dance Theater Collection—Finding Aid Library of Congress – African & Middle Eastern Reading Room Max Roach Papers—Finding Aid National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Records in the Manuscript Division National Negro Opera Company Collection—Finding Aid National Visionary Leadership Project Interviews and Conference Collection—Finding Aid Primary Documents in American History: Emancipation Proclamation Research Guides – African American Studies Rita Dove, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1993-95 Silent Protest Parade: Topics in Chronicling America Soul Food with a Focus on Health: Selected Resources