Throughout the 1800s, homegrown American scientists and inventors were a source of pride for the fledgling republic, which was rapidly surpassing Great Britain and the rest of Europe as a hotbed of industrial activity. The period also coincided with the peak of the Romantic Period in art, music,

"Although women's empowerment can have a revolutionary effect on society, it doesn't always look like a revolution. Today, organizations like UN Women work to empower women in rural areas through economic programs that help them “claim their rights to land, leadership, opportunities, and choices�

American women have always worked, but their work in the home is often unpaid and invisible. One way to see this work is through what women wore. This labor—cleaning, cooking, child rearing, and other care work—fused with notions of what it meant to be a woman and shaped Americans’ ideas ab

“They had just arrived in a foreign country and the small girl’s mother was sent away. Ernest and Mimi Hausner fled their home in Vienna in 1938, when little Evelyn was just a toddler. Nazi Germany had annexed Austria, putting the lives of Jews like the Hausners at risk. They made it to England

Leotard worn by gymnast Dominique Dawes (b. 1976) at the 1996 Summer Olympic games, held in Atlanta, Georgia. At the games she won gold as part of the first place U.S. team. The Maryland native also took home an individual bronze for her performance in the floor exercise, becoming the first African

Despite disruption resulting from the suspension from Central High School and the later closure of all of Little Rock’s public schools to avoid integration, Minnijean Brown graduated on schedule in 1959 from New Lincoln School in New York City. New Lincoln School was a private, integrated school f

For elementary school students to practice thinking routines by carefully observing museum objects and artifacts. Each video has an accompanying lesson plan with activities for students to do in the class or home. Find them in the description section of each individual video. Each video is 5 minutes

Spark!Lab is a hands -on invention studio in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Spark!Lab activities communicate that invention is a process, rather than a single “Aha!” moment; provide visitors with opportunities to explore the invention process and their own inventiveness;

“John Langston was running through a neighborhood in ruins. Burned homes and businesses were still smoking, their windows shattered. Langston was only 12 years old, but he was determined to save his brothers’ lives. He had spent the night in a safe house, sheltering from the white mobs that had

“In 1945, Jack Fisher of Kalamazoo, Michigan, celebrated a victory, one of the first of its kind in the United States. Jack, a disabled veteran and lawyer, was elated because his hometown had just installed the nation's first curb cuts to facilitate travel in the downtown area for wheelchair users