February is African American History Month
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.
Liljenquist Collection of Civil War Portraits
The Library of Congress has acquired an exceptional collection of nearly 700 ambrotype and tintype photographs showing both Union and Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Tom Liljenquist has generously donated the entire collection to the Library as a gift to the nation in order to ensure broad public access and long-term preservation.
African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting
This exhibition pays tribute to the extraordinary variety of individual works of art that come into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art as gifts or purchases. Together, these artworks represent 10 years of building a permanent collection that embodies the diversity and outstanding quality of Africa’s arts.
Voyages
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Transatlantic Slave database has information on almost 35,000 slave voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the 16th and 19th-centuries. It offers researchers, students and the general public a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movements of people in world history.
The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey – Where Art and History Intersect
Over 100 artifacts, documents, and artwork spanning some 400 years of history will be on display from the extraordinary collection of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey.
Gladstone Photography Collection
The William A. Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs provides almost 350 images showing African Americans and related military and social history. The Civil War era is the primary time period covered, with scattered examples through 1945.
War for Freedom: African Americans in the Era of the Civil War
Each War for Freedom unit guides students to do research with original historic documents, to re-create moments of drama and personal choice, to understand the relevance of the struggle for their own lives, and to synthesize their learning and imagination in creative collaborative projects.
For Teachers
Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.
2011 Theme
Event Hightlights
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February 1-28
Ongoing ExhibitionThe Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey A travelling exhibition of rare artifacts and artwork that spans four centuries and embodies the hardships and triumphs of the African American experience. (Smithsonian National Museum of American History)
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February 5
Family Day Celebration: African American Pioneers in Aviation
Meet some of the original Tuskegee Airmen; talk to museum experts and try hands-on activities. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center) -
February 6
Lecture
"We Build our Temples for Tomorrow": Writing African American Art History By Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, associate professor of American art, University of Pennsylvania. (National Gallery of Art) -
February 9
Interactive WebcastNational Youth Summit: 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides A webcast that joins live audiences in six cities, allowing students from around the country to discuss history with the people who were witnesses and activists on the front lines of the fight for justice. (Smithsonian Institution)
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February 16
Musical PerformanceWilliam Chapman Nyaho, pianist Music of the African Diaspora (National Gallery of Art)
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February 16
Research SeminarBeyond the Basics: Emancipation Records of the District of Columbia Damani Davis, archivist, teaches this month’s “beyond the basic” archival research skills for genealogists -- all skill levels welcome. (National Archives)