Student Nurse’s Uniform and Yearbook from Homer G. Phillips Hospital School of Nursing

Pauline Brown Payne wore this uniform while attending the Homer G. Phillips Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1940s. She graduated from the school in 1947 and worked as a nurse in the hospital from 1947 ...

Money box used by Bishop Richard Allen

This simple wood and leather money box belonged to Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and one of the most important religious figures in American history.

Richard Allen is born enslaved in 1760. Separated at ...

Grafton Tyler Brown Painting

Grafton Tyler Brown painted this image of Lake Okanagan, British Columbia in 1882. One of the most skilled lithographers in the American West, Grafton’s experiences in Canada motivated him to dedicate more time to painting and exploring the natural wonders ...

Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

In 1974, poet and playwright Ntozake Shange debuted her groundbreaking work, For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, at The Bacchanal, a women’s bar in Albany, California. Using an innovative form she defined as a “choreopoem”—a ...

Doorway façade from the Baxter Terrace Housing Project, Newark, New Jersey

With the population of urban areas swelling through the first half of the 20^th century, middle and low-income families had trouble finding adequate housing. Only with the 1937 passage of the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act, did the federal government accelerate and ...

Ecuadorian Boat Seat with Spider Web

This seat represents the shared connections between the cultures of the transatlantic slave trade in the Americas. Afro Ecuadorian Deborah Azareno sat on this boat seat as she traveled in canoes along the rivers of Ecuador’s coastal Esmeraldas province. She ...

Cleveland Stadium and Jim Brown

Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown wore this jersey during his nine-year career with the Cleveland Browns. Among the most recognized football greats in American history, Brown’s legacy encompassed breaking down racial barriers in Hollywood, building African-American owned businesses, ...

Cattle Branding Iron Used by the Bell Family

This cattle branding iron is more than a tool for marking livestock. In 1878, African American cattle rancher Calvin Bell registered his brand with the state of Texas, making it one of the first African American-owned brands registered there. Bell’s ...

Black Panther Photos

During the height of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the Black Panther Party emerged as an alternative for those frustrated with southern Civil Rights organizations’ nonviolent philosophy and seemingly slow progress. Founders Huey Newton and Bobby ...

Bible Belonging to Nat Turner

On August 21, 1831, enslaved people in Southampton County, Virginia escaped from captivity and rose up in rebellion. Their leader, Nat Turner, a self-educated and confident enslaved Baptist minister, believed the revolt ordained by God. Oral tradition passed down from ...