#nmaahc

[stoplookingup]

This original Uhura uniform is part of the Afrofuturism exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. The item on the left is the flight suit Trayvon Martin wore when he attended a program called Experience Aviation.

[colonialcapitaltours]

February is Black History Month!

The 10-story Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. is dedicated to celebrating African American history and culture. Learn of African-American life, culture, and experiences through America's history through the more than 40,000 artifacts and displays.

[africanamericanreports]

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will publish a dynamic new book Sept. 17 tracing the history of sports through photographs from the turn of the 20th century to the present day with Game Changers: Sports Photographs from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

[elailai94]

Happy International Women’s Day! Let’s celebrate the allies, pioneers and trailblazers who fought the good fight and are working towards an inclusive society for all! 🌺 #genderequality #inclusivesociety #iwd #womensday #happywomensday #happyinternationalwomensday #smithsonian #nmaahc #nationalmuseumofafricanamericanhistoryandculture #dc #washingtondc #america #us #usa #unitedstates #unitedstatesofamerica #northamerica #anationsstory #apeoplesjourney #discoverusa #discoverwashingtondc #exploreusa #explorewashingtondc #liveloveusa #mydccool #tourismusa #unitedstories #visittheusa #visitusa #visitwashingtondc (at Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpiOJKpLC34/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[afrotumble]

Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures

[trascapades]

❤️🖤💚#ArtIsAWeapon

BlackHistoryMonth Salute to #RosaParks on the 111th anniversary of her birth (Feb. 4)!

📷image & ✍️🏾caption reposted from @nmaahc American activist Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, #OnThisDay [February 4] in 1913. Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 and subsequent arrest sparked the NAACP’s Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott lasted for 381 days and led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring segregation on buses operating in Alabama to be illegal. Parks was fired from her job as a department store seamstress and received death threats for years following the boycott.

In a 1999 public law, Congress referred to Parks as “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.” In her 1992 book, “Rosa Parks: My Story” she explained: “people always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was 42. No, the only thing I was tired of, was tired of giving in.”

#APeoplesJourney #BlackHistoryMonth #SmithsonianBHM

📸 Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Bob Adelman Archive.

[kerriclarkcreative]

Image from: washington.org Design Leadership's Cultural Parameters of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture

Over a century ago, in 1915, there was a call for a national museum to honor African American history. Yet, it wasn’t until 1998 that the legislative push gained momentum, leading to the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s authorization in 2003. With construction beginning in 2012, the museum finally opened in 2016, after years of persistent advocacy. This delay reflects the cultural parameters and systemic barriers that once marginalized Black history in the national narrative.

Today, the museum stands as a testament to resilience and a powerful symbol of cultural expression, sustainability, and storytelling. Incorporating key cultural parameters, its LEED Gold-certified design embraces spirituality and joy while honoring the challenging aspects of African American experience. The inverted step pyramid shape, inspired by a Yoruba crown, and the three stacked trapezoidal forms modeled after a sculpture by Olowe of Ise, connect the museum to African heritage. With roughly 60% of the building underground, the design acknowledges the hidden stories of African American history. In 2022, as the second-most visited Smithsonian museum, the NMAAHC resonates deeply with visitors, preserving history while inspiring forward progress.

[agmarietv]

Big Band legend Erskine Hawkins photographed for Bluebird Records (an RCA Victor sub-label) sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Hawkins and his Orchestra are quite popular on WINE-DOWN SUNDAYS - listen to previous episodes here: https://buff.ly/3tmMM7P

[NMAAHC - Digital Collections]

[mauricecherry]

The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently launched an online portal for their design collection. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection/design

Design collections at NMAAHC encompass graphic design, furniture design, fashion design, and architectural design, among other fields. The impact of African Americans in design is reflected in American material culture and the built environment we experience today.

My baby Revision Path is a part of the collection -- the first podcast to be in the Smithsonian's archives. (There's a pretty dope bio of me too.)

[rnettaunreeled]

Old-school Summertime

A Peoples Journey: Black Leisure Traditions

Photo:  Hot fun in the summertime, 1980, © Jamel Shabazz. 

Kicking off the summer with #APeoplesJourney to pools, BBQs and family reunions! From the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, African Americans around the country sought leisure destinations where they could relax without the burden of racial oppression.

Photo: The Way of Life of the Northern Negro: Untitled Photograph of father and son at Lake Michigan 1946-1948, © Wayne F. Miller.

Photo: Outdoor Portrait of a Family Standing by a Picnic Table, H.C. Anderson.

Photo:  ©1955 Travelguide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

Join us this month, as we amplify and explore black leisure traditions in the United States. And all month long, share with us your memories of the summer with #APeoplesJourney!

[jwarminsky]

Hip-Hop Block Party

Previewed the National Museum of African American History and Culture's annual event; this year the emphasis is on hip-hop's 50th anniversary.

[yesdreamilyenchantingbouquet]

NMAAHC Recognizes the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) invites visitors to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington by experiencing Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” on view for a limited time, Aug. 7–Sept. 18, in the “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom” gallery. The museum also offers three compelling exhibitions: “Defending Freedom,…

[africanamericanreports]

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) recognizes the 70th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court with a daylong public event Friday, May 17.

[art150class]

Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture Showcases Black History

For this assignment, I decided to follow the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The stories they highlight are important to understanding the history of the United States more in depth and spotlight the diversity that has always been present in our nation. 

The NMAAHC publishes Instagram posts highlighting individual Black trailblazers throughout US history. Two examples of people the NMAAHC have posted about include Mary McLeod Bethune and Diahann Carroll, who were pioneers and proponents of diversity in their respective fields. 

Mary McLeod Bethune was a teacher who was appointed Director of Minority Affairs for the National Youth Administration under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was the first Black woman to head a federal agency and was part of Roosevelt’s “Black cabinet,” the group of FDR’s Black policy advisors which Bethune herself led. This was significant as this was during the Great Depression, a time where segregation still persisted in the US. Bethune also founded the National Council of Negro Women “to empower Black women concerned with social justice and human rights issues.”

Diahann Carroll was an American actress known for movie musicals such as Carmen Jones (1954) and the TV shows Julia (1968-71) and Dynasty (1984-1987). Julia, in which Carroll played a nurse, was significant to television history, as she was the first African-American lead character in a non-stereotypical role. For her role on Dynasty, where she played Dominique Deveraux, “Carroll immortalized Black female power.” 

A picture of Caroll as Julia and Marc Copage as Corey on the TV show Julia.

Bethune and Carroll are important to the history of the United States as they were trailblazers in their respective fields. They were Black female role models at a time when segregation still existed. It is important to have representation of all races and ethnicities in our culture, and Deborah Willis is furthering this with her mission of looking for photographs of Black people throughout US history. As she explains in the documentary Through a Lens Darkly, she was ”amazed and dismayed” there were no Black people in history textbooks, so she made it a goal to show the history of African-Americans through photography with Black people both in front and behind the camera. Her project has lasted over 35 years and is further exemplified in Picturing Us, where she shows pictures of African Americans throughout US history and explains its significance. 

The image Racoon Couple in Car in Picturing Us symbolizes “the celebration of Black life…and cultural achievement.” The photograph also celebrates Harlem as “a source of pride” for African Americans as it was a time of cultural, literary, and musical achievement. Racoon Couple relates to the NMAAHC’s photographic archive, including one of Duke Ellington, who was a prominent musician during the Harlem Renaissance. Many of his compositions, such as “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” have since become jazz standards. In the picture (which can be found in the citation section below), you can see the joy on his face as he plays the piano and the audience’s sheer happiness around him. Both Racoon Couple and the photo of Duke Ellington are a celebration of Black history in the United States. 

Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington perform “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965. Both were influential figures in jazz. 

People like Deb Willis and institutions like the Smithsonian help expose us to important stories in history that may be otherwise untold. By highlighting important African American figures that have broken barriers and blazed trails, the NMAAHC shows us the celebration of Black pride throughout history. 

Works Cited (Listed Alphabetically)

Family Pictures USA, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People, June 19, 2013, 7:49-8:46, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THZWSexAjgk.

Alice George, “Was the 1968 TV Show ‘Julia’ a Milestone or a Millstone for Diversity?,” Smithsonian Magazine, updated October 4, 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/was-1968-tv-show-julia-milestone-or-millstone-180970198/#:~:text=Squarely%20situated%20at%20an%20intersection,American%20authenticity%20to%20win%20viewers. 

“Mary McLeod Bethune and Roosevelt's ‘Black Cabinet’”, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian, accessed July 19, 2023, https://anacostia.si.edu/exhibitions/mary-mcleod-bethune-and-roosevelts-black-cabinet%3Aevent-exhib-4309. 

National Museum of African American History and Culture (@nmaahc), photograph of Diahann Carroll, photograph by G. Marshall Wilson, Johnson Publishing Company Archive, courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, July 17, 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CuzDWHWPUbZ/. 

National Museum of African American History and Culture (@nmaahc), “Duke Ellington, 1959,” Instagram, photographed by William Lanier, Johnson Publishing Company Archive, courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, April 29, 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/Crnoi1dPcBE/. 

National Museum of African American History and Culture (@nmaahc), “Mary McLeod Bethune - Daytona Beach, Florida,” circa 1915, photo by William Ludlow Coursen, courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, July 10, 2023,  https://www.instagram.com/p/CuhByc0MP6D/. 

Deborah Willis, Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography (New York, The New Press, 1994), 8-9.

Picture/Video Credits

The Ed Sullivan Show, “Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing),"” YouTube, uploaded June 26, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myRc-3oF1d0. 

NBC Television, “Diahann carroll julia 1969,” circa 1969, uploaded August 31, 2011, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diahann_carroll_julia_1969.JPG. 

James Vanderzee, Racoon Couple in Car, 1932, courtesy Donna Vanderzee, from Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography (New York, The New Press, 1994), 7.

[aletdownsquid]

"Spirit in the Dark" examines Black religious life through a selection of photographs from the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony, Jet and Negro Digest.

The images in the exhibition spotlight noteworthy individuals — including religious and political leaders, musicians, authors, athletes, activists and educators — and are supported by an array of objects from the museum’s collection, many on display for the first time. 

[take0fftheblues]

Absolutely, bro! I highly encourage everyone to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture. There is so much to see, and I appreciated being able to take in the artistry, craftsmanship, ingenuity, triumph, creativity, culture, determination, power, and excellence of our people.

During a recent trip to my favorite city, Washington, D.C.