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 ...

The Texas Western College Miners 1966 Basketball Team

On Saturday, March 19, 1966, riot police in El Paso, Texas, struggled to calm mobs of people moving through city streets. The residents had not taken to the streets in protest, but rather to celebrate. Just hours earlier, the Texas ...

Shawl Given to Harriet Tubman by Queen Victoria

In 1897, Queen Victoria of England, sovereign of the largest empire in the world, presented this silk, lace, and linen shawl to formerly enslaved Harriet Tubman. Victoria’s immense display of respect and admiration underscored Tubman’s amazing life, her pursuit of ...

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 ...

Marian Anderson’s Outfit at 1939 Concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

On April 9, 1939, a crowd of more than 75,000 people gathered along the National Mall’s reflecting pool for an impromptu concert organized by the NAACP and the Department of the Interior. Before them, on the steps of the Lincoln ...

Muhammad Ali’s Headgear and items from the 5th Street Gym

Boxers training at Miami Beach’s historic 5^th Street Gym once used this corner stool and bell. These boxers included Muhammad Ali, who wore this training headgear while conditioning at the gym in the 1960s and 1970s.

Then known as Cassius ...

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 ...

Leah Chase Chef’s Jacket

This red chef’s jacket belonged to renowned New Orleans chef Leah Chase. Known widely as the “Queen of Creole Cuisine,” Leah Chase has served as the executive chef at her husband’s family restaurant, Dooky Chase’s, since the 1950s. Chase helped ...