A Site
for Looking out
& looking back
Looking around
A Home for history
A crown
A testament
A crowning achievement
Scholarship and Research
We are entrusted with the full story of the African American experience. We must attract and retain the best scholars in this field while providing opportunities to develop the next generation of museum professionals by offering real-life collecting experiences, advancing inclusive historical interpretation, and serving as an always-relevant resource for the world.
The Museum is already a leader in shaping the conversation about African American history and its impact on our collective culture, and our work has only just begun. The more we reveal, the more we open new avenues of discovery. Your contributions are vital to this endeavor.
Select Programs and Initiatives
Special Exhibitions and Publications
NMAAHC’s curators, collections managers, educators, and other Museum staff work tirelessly to develop special exhibitions and publications that provide a closer look into African American history and culture. In preparing these projects, our team endeavors to fill important gaps in previous presentations of American history.
We want to do more of this work — and the Living History campaign will make that possible. Your gift will help us craft engaging special exhibitions that are presented not only in our Museum but on our website and in traveling exhibits to other museums around the country. We also will be able to create companion books and articles to share our scholarship and support the work of other researchers around the world.
Rapid Response Collecting
We are living history every day. The election of the first African American woman vice president of the United States, the dual pandemics of Covid-19 and racial injustice, and the confirmation of the first Black woman to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court are all examples of the remarkable, unfolding stories NMAAHC has captured in just the past two years.
The Museum’s rapid response collection team is “on the ground,” ensuring that today’s pivotal moments are accurately documented and preserved for posterity. Your contribution to the Living History campaign will help our curators secure contemporary stories and objects for future generations.
Global Slavery and the Slave Wrecks Project
NMAAHC is committed to illuminating the history and impact of slavery through innovative research, unparalleled scholarship, and compelling outreach initiatives. Through the Center for the Study of Global Slavery and the Slave Wrecks Project, we humanize the history of the global slave trade and increase our collective understanding of the most horrific and extensive trafficking of humans in world history.
Help us uncover and share slavery’s complex history by making a gift that empowers our network of scholars, curators, and community educators to transform how museums — how all of us — acknowledge and address the contemporary consequences of slavery.