Slavery & Freedom: Videos
Interactive Tour with Founding Director Lonnie Bunch
NMAAHC Founding Director Lonnie Bunch highlights stories behind iconic objects in the Slavery and Freedom exhibition
Museum visitors share their stories and reflections on the Slavery and Freedom exhibition
Emancipation Proclamation Legacy
Historians and other experts discuss the impact of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation
Slavery & Freedom: Centers, Initiatives, & Programs
Center for the Study of Global Slavery
Advancing the understanding of slavery and its enduring legacies, through research, scholarship, and outreach programs
Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History
Using innovative technology to preserve, share, and expand access to African American history and culture
Celebration of Resilience
Discover ways to celebrate this African American cultural tradition of music, food and freedom
Explore and help transcribe records about the lives of newly freed people during Reconstruction
Slavery & Freedom: Collection Stories
Slavery
Search the Museum’s online collection for artifacts related to the history of slavery
African Muslims in Early America
Enslaved Muslims used their faith and bilingual literacy to build community, resist slavery, and pursue freedom
Clara Ellis Payne’s family heirlooms trace back to ancestors who were enslaved by President James Madison
Slavery & Freedom: Blog Posts
Making a Way Out of No Way: Collection Searches
![A placard used during the Women's March on Washington, January 21, 2017. The corrugated cardboard placard is mostly yellow with white and blue text. The top third of the placard depicts six (6) cartoon portraits of women of varying ethnicities. All the women are depicted from the chin up and they are all smiling and looking at the viewer. The woman on the far left is depicted with blue cat eyeglasses. The women second from the left is depicted with blue hair with straight bangs across her forehead and a black headband. The third woman from the left is depicted with curly hair and blue, diamond shaped earrings. The third woman from the right is depicted with braids on either side of her head. The women second from the right is depicted with black hair with straight bangs across her forehead. The woman on the far right is depicted with white hair and eyebrows. Below the women’s heads is a band of black plastic tape. The bottom two thirds of the placard are yellow with white painted text outlined with blue and blue painted text that reads [WOMEN'S RIGHTS / are / HUMAN RIGHTS]. The word [are] is accessed on either side with two (2) five (5) pointed blue stars. The words [WOMEN'S] and [RIGHTS] are underlined with black plastic tape. The back of the placard is undecorated brown cardboard. Thick pieces of clear tape hold the four (4) pieces of cardboard together that comprise the placard.](/static/75cb6dab211bec00a4c4253ca4e8285d/1b0ce/2017_102_001-0.webp)
NMAAHC Collection Search
Search the Museum’s online collection for items related to historical and contemporary activism
NMAAHC Collection Search
Search the Museum’s online collection for items related to education
NMAAHC Collection Search
Search the Museum’s online collection for items related to business, entrepreneurship, and the pursuit of economic independence
NMAAHC Collection Search
Search the Museum’s online collection for items related to religion and faith practices
NMAAHC Collection Search
Search the Museum’s online collection for items related to African American organizations
NMAAHC Collection Search
Search the Museum’s online collection for items related to the history of publishing and the Black press
Making a Way Out of No Way: Centers, Initiatives, and Programs
Oral history interviews with unsung activists of the 1950s and 1960s, produced by NMAAHC and the Library of Congress
History, Rebellion, and Reconciliation
Communities Mobilized for Social Change
A series of public programs presented by NMAAHC examining race, justice, and community activism
Center for the Study of African American Religious Life
Through innovative scholarship, public programs, and collecting, NMAAHC’s Center for the Study of African American Religious Life expands the ways religion is acknowledged and explored
Learn more about our Teaching and Learning Unit and Early Childhood Education Initiative
Making a Way Out of No Way: Stories and Digital Exhibitions
Resurrection City & the 1968 Poor People's Campaign
NMAAHC special exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign for economic justice
An exploration of James Baldwin’s life and work as a writer and activist through the lens of his house in St. Paul de Vence, France
Politics, Language, Power, and Image
Photography and art from the NMAAHC collection reveal how Black women have employed language and voice to demonstrate political power and engage in activism
Muslim Artifacts at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Discover how the material culture of African American Muslims helps to document the African American religious experience—its diversity, its origins, and its potency in the struggle for uplift and liberation
Remembering the Chicago Defender, Print Edition (1905–2019)
Learn more about the history and legacy of this groundbreaking Black newspaper
The Black Women’s Literary Renaissance of the 1970s
In constructing their own narratives, Black women writers of the 1970s experimented with and expanded traditional boundaries of literature
Explore the Johnson Publishing Collection and celebrate 75 years of Ebony Magazine and the African American experience