Exhibit Resources
Resources that expand on the history and stories of the exhibit.


Exhibit Resources
Explore the history of slavery in the U.S. and the stories of African Americans whose struggles for freedom shaped the nation.
Databases & Collections

Enslaved: 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
Exhibit Resources

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

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
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources
Places to Visit

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
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources
Other Exhibits & Stories

The Journey to Emancipation
Learn about the Germantown Protests before Emancipation Proclamation.
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources

First Blacks in the Americas
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
Exhibit Resources

Exhibit Resources
Continue the journey into how African Americans community, institutions, and activism created possibilities in a world that denied them opportunities.
Projects & Events

History and Legacy of Black Entrepreneurship in the United States
Lectures and workshops from a 2021 scholarly forum on the history of Black entrepreneurship and innovation
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources

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

Civil Rights History Project
Oral history interviews with unsung activists of the 1950s and 1960s, produced by NMAAHC and the Library of Congress
Exhibit Resources
Visit In Person

National Civil Rights Museum
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
Exhibit Resources

Maggie Walker's House
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
Exhibit Resources
Collections & Stories

HBCU Library Alliance
Browse this online collection dedicated to preserving images from Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Exhibit Resources

Exhibit Resources
Discover how others use Afrofuturism as an expressive outlet for exploring concepts of Black identity, agency, and freedom.
A History of Black Futures

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.
Exhibit Resources

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.
Exhibit Resources

Exhibit Resources
Continue to learn about Reconstruction and how African Americans’ experience after the end of slavery.
Reconstruction and Its Legacies

Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal
Access millions of records documenting the names and lives of African Americans during Reconstruction.
Exhibit Resources

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

Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery
Explore the newspaper ads formerly enslaved African Americans placed hoping to reunite with loved ones after slavery.
Exhibit Resources

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

Exhibit Resources
Continue exploring the exhibit and how protest, defiance, and resilience is an important part of the Black freedom.
Protest. Defiance. Resilience

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.
Exhibit Resources

Reckoning's Family Guide
A guide for caregivers and educators to facilitate conversations and connections to art in the Reckoning exhibit with children.
Exhibit Resources

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.
Exhibit Resources

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.
Exhibit Resources

Centers and Projects

Center for the Study of Global Slavery
The CSGS at NMAAHC researches and interprets global slavery and its afterlives, recognizing the resistance and resilience of people of African descent.
Exhibit Resources

Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
The Simmons Center at Brown University studies the historical forms of slavery and colonialism while also examining how these legacies shape our present.
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources
Collections & Databases

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

Black Slave Revolts
This interactive database and map catalogs and explores acts of resistance by enslaved people around the world
Exhibit Resources
Exhibit Locations
In Slavery’s Wake will open on December 13, 2024 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It will then travel to five other museums around the world until 2028.

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

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
Exhibit Resources

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

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

Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire
IFAN is a cultural and scientific institute in the nations of the former French West Africa
Exhibit Resources

Musée des civilisations noirs
MCN is a national museum in Dakar, Senegal, that highlights Africa’s contributions to the world
Exhibit Resources

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
Exhibit Resources

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