Black History

Revolutionary political philosopher, writer and activist, Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015) dedicated her life to creating social change, often in collaboration with her husband James Boggs.

Nelson George has had an amazing career. He’s an author. A screenplay writer. A filmmaker. An award-winning journalist. And he’s not done yet.

Visitors to the “Lowcountry,” the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia — which include the historic cities of Charleston and Savannah — always notice the distinctive stands selling coiled “Gullah” or Sweetgrass baskets.

While working for Ford Motor Company, the first African American automobile designer, McKinley Thompson, Jr., conceived of an idea for an all-terrain vehicle that would do for Third World countries what the Model T did for America.

Innovator George Washington Carver is featured in a new digital experience in the Agriculture exhibit at Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

The Henry Ford remembers Damon J. Keith, a civil rights icon and courageous champion for social justice.

President Abraham Lincoln signed The Freedmen’s Bureau Act on March 3, 1865, to provide food, clothing, fuel, and temporary shelter to freedmen, their wives, and children in areas of insurrection (in other words, within the Confederate States).

As we come into the season for exploring and celebrating Americanism, it’s important to remember that the promises of freedom have ebbed and flowed to different groups in different ways.

From the very beginning of emancipation all the way to modern Juneteenth parties, food has always been an important part of celebrations. For Emancipation Day, families and communities would come together to enjoy the food, taking the day to picnic.

The Henry Ford happily celebrates and welcomes into the world a new national museum: the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.