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 ...

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...

Join Mount Vernon's Curator of Archeological Collections, Sean Devlin, for an in-depth look at a reconstructed slave cabin. What clues can we pull from looking at the structure, the soil, and the material culture around the cabin to help us understand more about the lives of the enslaved? What ac...

Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon explores the personal stories of the people enslaved at Mount Vernon while providing insight into George Washington’s evolving opposition to slavery.

Civil Rights pioneer, Melba Pattillo Beals, Ph.D, one of the Little Rock Nine who turned her trials into triumphs. She is a best selling author of “Warrior’s Don’t Cry”, “March Forward Girl” and “I Will Not Fear.” Her writing healed past pains: Jim Crow Era of separate drinking fountains, bathroo...

The Iron Riders were a group of U.S. Army Buffalo soldiers who were tasked with a daunting job: bike 1,900 miles from Missoula, Montana to St. Louis, Missouri. Officially known as the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, this group of men had to test whether bicycles were a more efficient way to travel o...

Courtesy of The Henry Ford, discover how an 1840 anti-slavery almanac, a painting of labor strikers, and a pink knitted hat connect, with Senior Curator and Curator of Public Life Donna Braden.

Frankie Muse Freeman wore many hats in her remarkable one hundred and one years including wife, mother, lawyer and civil rights activist. As a youth in her hometown of Danville, VA Freeman regularly faced racial discrimination and promised herself that she would find a way to fight the bias that...

Christo Brand is a South African author and former guard at Robben Island Prison. Beginning his tenure there in 1978 at age 19, Brand was responsible for guarding Nelson Mandela during his lifetime sentence. In 1982, Brand was transferred along with Mandela to Pollsmoor Prison, where the pair dev...

The Henry Ford's Curator of Agriculture and the Environment shares how three historical figures (Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, and Rachel Carson) used persuasion to help further their causes to create a better future.

Donna Braden, curator, shares the history of the Logan County Courthouse, symbolic in the expansion and tightening of voting rights in America’s Northwest Territory.

The Dr. Sullivan Jackson and Mrs. Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson House holds powerful stories of an ordinary family doing extraordinary things in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. In line with the wishes of the Jacksons’ daughter Jawana, the Jackson House has been relocated from Selma, Alabama...

On August 8, 2024, a group of distinguished panelists came together at The Henry Ford to discuss the significance of the Jackson House, its place in the Civil Rights Movement and its future in Greenfield Village. We'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the following panelists for lending the...