Skip to Content

Exhibitions

nmaahc-building
Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
Black and white photograph of protesters marching in front of White House.

The Era of Segregation

1877-1968

Learn how African Americans defended their freedom against oppression. Explore the communities and culture African Americans built during segregation.

Explore Segregation

2 Parts

Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
A black-and-white photo of three women in white dresses standing in ocean waves during a memorial ritual.

In Slavery’s Wake

Learn how Black people resisted enslavement, claimed their humanity, and created freedom around the world. Learn how slavery and colonialism shape society today.

Explore the Wake

3 Themes

Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
A view from the back by a woman who is looking at a quilted textile portrait of Harriet Tubman, made by Bisa Butler.

Reckoning

Explore Black social protest through art. Learn how visual art provides perspective, escape, commentary, and paths to protest for African Americans.

Explore Reckoning

3 Themes

Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
Graphic poster with a stylized overlay text saying "reclaiming my time" with the name "maxine waters" below.

Reclaiming
My Time

Explore design and art about rest, labor, and leisure in the African American community. Learn how artists are reclaiming their time.

Enter Exhibition
Exhibit Location IconONLINE ONLY
A black and white photograph of a family standing in front of a stone house and a large tree.

MAKE GOOD
 THE PROMISES

Learn about Reconstruction and its legacies. Explore the African American experience after the end of slavery.

Explore Reconstruction

6 Themes

Exhibit Location IconONLINE ONLY
Sun Ra, a black alien , is dressed in a pharaoh looking headdress and colorful yellow costume.

Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism functions as an expressive outlet for exploring concepts of Black identity, agency, and freedom through creative, intellectual, and artistic work.

Explore Afrofuturism

4 Themes

Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
An ambrotype of an African American woman with a flag pinned to her chest inside an ordinate gold frame.

Slavery & Freedom

1400-1877

Explore the history of slavery in the U.S. and the stories of African Americans whose struggles for freedom shaped the nation.

Explore Slavery & Freedom

4 Parts

Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
A purple silk banner with gold fringe and the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs' motto, "LIFTING / AS / WE CLIMB" painted in large gold letters.

MAKING A WAY OUT OF NO WAY

Through community institutions and activism, African Americans crafted possibilities in a world that denied them opportunities.

Explore Making a Way

6 Themes

Exhibit Location IconAT MUSEUM
Photograph of Marvin Gaye in a purple jacket on stage performing

SPIRIT in the DARK

Diverse aspects of the Black religious experience are revealed through photographs and stories of individuals featured in Ebony, Jet, and other Johnson Publishing Company publications.

Explore Spirit in the Dark

3 Themes

Exhibit Location IconONLINE ONLY
African American woman behind a turntable deck. She is wearing a light colored tank top, headphone, glasses and a necklace. A round of light is out of focus in the top left background.

Hip-Hop
Origins

Explore the National Museum of African American History and Culture collection of hip-hop artifacts from different places like the east, south, and west coast.

Explore Hip-Hop Origins
Exhibit Location IconONLINE ONLY
Images of a carte-de-visite photograph of conjoined twins Millie and Christine McCoy.

Millie Christine

Millie Christine McCoy were conjoined twins born into slavery in Whiteville, North Carolina. Known as “The Carolina Twins” and the “Two-Headed Nightingale,” the enslaved twins were exhibited before the Civil War as circus and sideshow attractions in parts of the United States and Europe.

Explore Millie Christine

3 Themes