Exhibit Resources

Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade

Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade

This innovative and comprehensive database includes over 900,000 records related to the lives of individuals who were enslaved or enslavers

Freedom on the Move

Rediscovering the Stories of Self-Liberating People

An interactive database compiling thousands of stories of resistance, using runaway ads to tell the story of fugitives from North American slavery

Slave Societies Digital Archive

Explore over 700,000 digital images of ecclesiastical and secular documents related to African and African-descended people in slave societies, including details of other societal members

Slave Voyages

Search these records to learn about the broad origins and forced relocations of more than 12 million African people who were sent across the Atlantic in slave ships

Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Preserves and tells the stories of the Creole community and Oakland and Magnolia Plantations in Louisiana, two of the most intact Creole cotton plantations in the United States

The Charleston Museum

Repository for the historic Old Slave Mart red flag, this museum educates visitors on the natural and cultural landscape of the South Carolina Lowcountry

Iziko Museums of South Africa

A collection of 11 national museums in Cape Town featuring natural and social history and art collections, and repository of the São José slave ship artifacts

Drayton Hall

An important site to learn about early colonial North American history and the African American experience, particularly seeing up close the landscape built by enslaved Black people

We Are Family

A photograph reveals a story of kinship bonds that survived bondage

The Journey to Emancipation

The Germantown Protest, 1688

Learn about the Germantown Protests before Emancipation Proclamation.

Colored Conventions Project

Explore the history of African American political meetings from the 1830s through Reconstruction, a foundational model for African American campaigns for civil and human rights

First Blacks in the Americas

The African Presence in the Dominican Republic

Historical resource on the Black African presence in the first colonial society of the Americas, named La Española (today’s Dominican Republic) by Spanish colonizers

History and Legacy of Black Entrepreneurship in the United States

Keller Center at Princeton University

Lectures and workshops from a 2021 scholarly forum on the history of Black entrepreneurship and innovation

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Trade association of the more than 200 African American-owned community newspapers from around the U.S. and producer of the BlackPressUSA Network

Rosenwald Schools

National Trust for Historic Preservation African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

Explore more about the Rosenwald Schools and other building, landscape, and community preservation projects

Civil Rights History Project

Oral history interviews with unsung activists of the 1950s and 1960s, produced by NMAAHC and the Library of Congress

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House

National Historic Site

National Civil Rights Museum

At the Lorraine Motel

Established in 1991 at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, this museum’s mission is to share the culture and lessons from the American Civil Rights Movement and explore how this significant era continues to shape equality and freedom globally

Maggie Walker's House

National Historic Site

Explore the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, a nationally important center of African American cultural and economic activity during the early 20th century

HBCU Library Alliance

A Digital Collection Celebrating the Founding of the Historically Black College and University

Browse this online collection dedicated to preserving images from Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Prince Hall Freemasonry: A Resources Guide

Library of Congress

Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures

This illustrated companion book to NMAAHC’s Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures exhibition explores the power of Afrofuturism to reclaim the past and reimagine Black futures.

Claiming Space Symposium: Presented by the Smithsonian Afrofuturism Series

The Claiming Space Symposium examines Afrofuturist thought across oceans, into land reclamations, up to the stars, through cyberspace, and inward as Black visionaries look to the infinite space within.

Panel Discussion on the Smithsonian Channel Documentary "Afrofuturism: The Origin Story"

Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal

Access millions of records documenting the names and lives of African Americans during Reconstruction.

Reconstruction in America

The Equal Justice Initiative’s report on Reconstruction documents the discrimination and violence against African Americans after the end of slavery.

Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery

Explore the newspaper ads formerly enslaved African Americans placed hoping to reunite with loved ones after slavery.

Colored Convention Project

Explore the proceedings of Colored Conventions from 1830 to 1899 and learn more about Black political organizing in the 19th century.

Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience Essay Collection

“Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience. ” a collection of essays inspired by the exhibition, explores the powerful ways in which visual art has long provided its own rich outlet for protest, commentary, escape and perspective for African Americans.

Reckoning's Family Guide

A guide for caregivers and educators to facilitate conversations and connections to art in the Reckoning exhibit with children.

Tour of Reckoning with Director Young and Curators

A guided tour of the exhibition featuring the museum Director Kevin Young and Curators Tuliza Fleming and Aaron Bryant.

Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past Platform

A multidisciplinary platform developed by the Smithsonian Institution to explore how race has informed each of our lives, regardless of our individual racial or ethnic identity.

Center for the Study of Global Slavery

In Slavery’s Wake co-convener

The CSGS at NMAAHC researches and interprets global slavery and its afterlives, recognizing the resistance and resilience of people of African descent.

Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

In Slavery’s Wake co-convener

The Simmons Center at Brown University studies the historical forms of slavery and colonialism while also examining how these legacies shape our present.

Unfinished Conversations

Unfinished Conversations is a new oral history initiative where people from around the world share stories of slavery, colonialism, memory, race, and place

Slave Voyages

Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trade databases

Search these records to learn about the broad origins and forced relocations of more than 12 million African people

Black Slave Revolts

This interactive database and map catalogs and explores acts of resistance by enslaved people around the world

AfricaMuseum

The AfricaMuseum in Brussels, Belgium, is a center for knowledge and resources on Africa, in an historical, contemporary, and global context

Museu Histórico Nacional

The Museu HIstórico Nactional, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was founded in 1922 and houses more than 250,000 objects related to Brazilian history

Arquivo Nacional

National Archives of Brazil

The National Archives of Brazil is responsible for the management, preservation and dissemination of federal government documents and archives

Passados Presentes

Memories of Slavery in Brazil

Passados Presentes is a collaborative and interdisciplinary project which seeks to understand the legacies of slavery in Brazil

Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire

Fundamental Institute of Black Africa

IFAN is a cultural and scientific institute in the nations of the former French West Africa

Musée des civilisations noirs

Museum of Black Civilizations

MCN is a national museum in Dakar, Senegal, that highlights Africa’s contributions to the world

Iziko Museums of South Africa

Iziko Museums comprises 11 museums in greater Cape Town, South Africa including the Iziko Slave Lodge, which details the history of slavery there

International Slavery Museum

The International Slavery Museum is based in Liverpool, England, and explores the histories and legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Civil Rights History Project

The National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress interviewed unsung activists of the 1950s and 1960s. These personal histories and testimonials provide an invaluable look at the Civil Rights Movement.

Lynching in America

Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror

Lynching in America documents more than 4400 racial terror lynchings in the United States during the period between Reconstruction and World War II.

Mapping Inequality

Redlining in New Deal America

Explore the redlining maps the federal government created for cities across the United States. Learn about the history of housing discrimination.

National Civil Rights Museum

The National Civil Rights Museum shares lessons from the Civil Rights Movement and explores the movement’s global impact. The museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

National Memorial for Peace and Justice

As one of the three Legacy Sites in Alabama, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice remembers the more than 4,400 African Americans who were lynched between 1877 and 1950.

Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum explores the events of the Modern Civil Rights Movement that took place in Mississippi and highlights the Mississippians who lead the struggle for freedom.