Wrought Iron Gate created by Philip Simmons

Local artisans crafted many of Charleston’s famous ornamental gates, like the gate pictured above by Philip Simmons. Decorative wrought-iron gates, fences, and railings are an integral part of Charleston’s identity, and the city’s African American craftsmen played a strong role ...

Walking plow owned by Joshua Lyles

The small community of Lyles Station, near the southern border of Indiana, 40 miles north of the Ohio River, offers a window into the largely unknown story of free black pioneers on the American frontier. African American farmers have been ...

Riot pennies charred during the 1921 Tulsa race riot

The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot is one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. At the time, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was one of the most affluent African American communities in the country. African American-owned ...

Playbill for Ira Aldridge at the Theatre Royal

One of the most celebrated Shakespearean actors of the 19th century, American-born Ira Aldridge achieved fame on the stages of Europe, where he found professional opportunities that did not exist for black actors in the United States. This 1857 playbill ...

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 ...

Honor King/End Racism (Photos and Sign)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.  On April 8, an estimated 40,000 people marched in silent protest through the streets of Memphis. Many of the participants carried signs created specifically ...

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 ...

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 ...