Wings for this Man is a propaganda film produced in 1945 by the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first unit of African-American pilots in the US military formed during World War II.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In this video, curators Amber N. Mitchell and Heather Bruegl (Oneida/Stockbridge-Munsee) discuss the origins of this landmark piece of legislation, the changes it prompted, and the le...

Bridget Biddy Mason is an American Hero. Born enslaved, Mason became one of the first prominent citizens and landowners in Los Angeles through the second half of the 19th Century. She also founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles in 1872. But in 1848, she walked 1,700 m...

This is the story of F4U Corsair pilots Jesse Brown and Medal of Honor winner Thomas Hudner in the Korean War - the tragic tale from the movie "Devotion".

Legacy of the Little Rock Nine: Featuring Ernest Green and Melba Pattillo Beals, PhD chronicles the story of the first 9 African American students to attend the all white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn how powers of local & national government battled integration 3 years afte...

Caroline Branham was one of George Washington's housemaids at Mount Vernon. Part of Branham's role on the estate was cleaning and maintaining the rooms in the Mansion. She was also the person who first discovered Washington was ill shortly before he passed. In this video, join one of our interpre...

Within the turmoil of The Civil War, Sable, a Confederate engineer's house slave, risks everything by stealing military plans in hopes of delivering them to her runaway husband and a trusting Union soldier. But when a battle drifts into their drop spot, nothing goes as expected and a simple plan ...

Freedmen’s Bureau officials encouraged people to deposit their savings in the private Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company. Account holders believed their monies were safe, but the deposits were not guaranteed. Changed lending policies in 1870, the economic panic of 1873, and mismanagement put in...

Thomas Laws deserves to be much better known than he is! Enslaved at the beginning of the Civil War, it was his action and bravery that provided the conduit for General Sheridan to get vital intelligence to launch the 3rd Battle of Winchester. Find out more! “Fridays at the Front” is a collaborat...

Captain Wendell Oliver Pruitt was a pioneering pilot of the 15th Air Force and a Tuskegee Airman from St. Louis. His story begins with humble beginnings and a desire to fly. A Sumner High graduate who grew up in the Ville neighborhood, Pruitt was well liked and well educated. His quiet demeanor g...

Jawana Jackson gives a tour of her parents’ home, which once served as a safe haven where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights leaders worked, strategized and planned the Selma-to-Montgomery marches of 1965.

For two decades, William Lee was by George Washington's side and forged a close relationship with him. He was with Washington throughout every moment of the Revolutionary War, and till his death. It is thought that Washington's relationship with Lee altered his view on slavery as he grew older. I...

Esau and Janie Jenkins dedicated themselves to improving the lives of Black residents on Johns Island, South Carolina. Esau Jenkins purchased this Volkswagen van around 1967, and the couple used it in much of their work. The van's rugged character is a tribute to the selfless service of Esau and ...

Through the lens of historic photographs, we learn a story of African American history. Today, African Americans in United States agriculture are virtually non-existent, and in a world of mechanized industrial farming, it is easy to forget the hands-on physical labor required in the past. The ric...

Ona Judge Staines was enslaved and forced to work as Martha Washington's personal servant until she escaped from the President's Mansion in Philadelphia. Much is known of Judge's life in comparison to other people enslaved by the Washingtons as a result of newspaper interviews she gave in 1845 an...

Today we remember the life of Doll: mother of 5, grandmother of 14, and enslaved cook at Mount Vernon. Telling this story is Brenda Parker, our African American Interpretation and Special Project Coordinator at Mount Vernon.

The life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are often hidden behind the continual replaying of a few lines from his “I Have a Dream” speech. In fact, Dr. King’s real story — from unknown Baptist minister to American civil rights leader and international human rights spokesperson — ...

Adolphus Thaddeus Watson, 100 Year old WWII Veteran, who served in the U.S. Army all black 351st artillery unit during the Battle of the Bulge is featured. His story takes us on a historical journey from being raised on a plantation by his Aunt Fannie who was born into slavery, the Jim Crow era, ...

In 1967, Esau and Janie B. Jenkins purchased the 1966 Volkswagen Deluxe Station Wagon currently on display in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, but their civil rights activism efforts began decades earlier.

Learn more about the Jenkins’ commitment to bettering the lives of residents i...

This insightful look at Elizabeth Keckley, born into slavery, freed woman, dressmaker to Varina Howell Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis and Mary Todd Lincoln, brings to light a little known part of the Lincoln story and American history