Historian Carroll Gibbs looks at the relationship of Georgetown University to the Georgetown African-American community, from the school's 1789 founding to the present day. He focuses particularly on the arrival of Patrick Healy, the first head of a U.S. university to be acknowledged as of African descent, in 1873.
To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Carroll Gibbs." Choose one of the Windows Media options.
Curator Richard Murray examines Emanuel Leutze's painting Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, looking at the mythological view of U.S. westward expansion it represents and how the painting's composition and individual elements justify Manifest Destiny.
A talk with Dr. Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the new National Museum of African American History, about the new African-American Museum. This Smithsonian Institution museum has been decades in the making and soon will be assigned a location in downtown Washington, DC. "It is a challenge to make sure that this is a museum that allows people to revel in African-American culture," Dr. Bunch has noted, "but it [will also be] a museum that says what it means to be an American. Everyone will want to come here because it will help us understand courage and resiliency and other traits."
To view this lecture, scroll to "Lonnie Bunch," and select "Watch the Video."
The Gallery stands as a major center of American art, both historic and contemporary. Founded "for the purpose of encouraging American Genius," the Corcoran's collection of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century American art represents most significant American artists. The Corcoran possesses a collection of European art as well.
The museum offers permanent and changing exhibits, tours (including tours for school groups), classroom materials for loan, and recreational and educational events (including professional development opportunities for educators).
The Museum is the 16th of the Smithsonian Institution, and is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. The museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the Indian voice.
The museum's extensive collections encompass a vast range of cultural material—including more that 800,000 works of extraordinary aesthetic, religious, and historical significance, as well as articles produced for everyday, utilitarian use. The collections span all major culture areas of the Americas, representing virtually all tribes of the United States, most of those of Canada, and a significant number of cultures from Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. Chronologically, the collections include artifacts from Paleo-Indian to contemporary arts and crafts. The museum's holdings also include film and audiovisual collections, paper archives, and a photography archive of approximately 90,000 images depicting both historic and contemporary Native American life.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, reference library access, and recreational and educational events.
NOTE: The museum also maintains a branch in New York City, NY.
The Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, research library access, educational programs, and educational and recreational events.
This 1915 Georgian Revival home is filled with the original furnishings and memorabilia of the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.
The house offers tours and educational and recreational events.
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the Museum stimulates leaders and citizens to confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy.
The museum offers exhibits, short films, research library access, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.
The Museum presents an overview of U.S. naval history. Permanent and temporary exhibitions commemorate the Navy's wartime heroes and battles as well as its peacetime contributions in exploration, diplomacy, space flight, navigation, and humanitarian service.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.
The National Museum of American History collects artifacts of all kinds—from gowns to locomotives—to preserve for the American people an enduring record of their past. The Museum has more than three million artifacts in its collection.
The museum offers exhibits, educational programs, and educational and recreational events.