segregation

This book traces the life and legacy of Charlie Wiggins, the “Negro Speed King.” Many people do not know that there were African American heroes on the race track. Charlie Wiggins was a four-time champion (1926, 1929, 1931, and 1932) of the Gold and Glory auto race in Indiana. Due to segregation and persecution in the 1920s, African American auto racers formed the Colored Speedway Association. They were attacked by the Klu Klux Klan, which owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The gift of a single poster has swelled into a respected and comprehensive collection of more than 25,000 rare film posters, lobby cards, and photographs, resulting in what is now the Separate Cinema Archive. Started in 1972 and collected and maintained by the archive’s founder and professional photographer, John Kisch, the collection chronicles the historic and blustery journey of the Black film industry, Black actors and directors, and the struggle for African-American equality. Kisch collaborated with film historian Dr. Edward Mapp to create this companion book for the Archive in 1991.

On August 31, 1962, Fannie Lou Hamer rode a bus with 17 other African Americans from her hometown of Ruleville to Indianola, Mississippi to register to vote. She was refused her legal right to register. When she returned home, she was fired by her employer and her family was thrown off the land where they had been sharecroppers. This injustice lit a fire inside Mrs. Hamer and put her on a path to becoming an important leader for the Civil Rights Movement in the South. This book tells the life story of this strong, indomitable woman who marched with Dr.

This highly illustrated book is a masterpiece. Over 100 pages in length, it describes the evolution of African American artists over time. This book focuses on the late 1900s and spans through the first decade of the 21st century. This is a Smithsonian American Art Museum publication. A New York native, the author graduated from multiple Ivy League universities including Princeton University and Columbia University. Every chapter is illustrated with reprints of paintings by influential African American artists followed by an extensive bio of each artist.

Written by Dr. Cynthia Carter, former director of Africare and current Chief Development Officer at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, this richly illustrated book uses artifacts, images, and documents to trace the history of slavery in North America, from ancient Africa to the suffering still experienced by African Americans today.

This pocket sized exhibition booklet contains a chronicle of the African American experience told through the unique lens of stamps and mail. At around 100 pages long, it is full of beautiful color illustrations of stamp art. The National Postal Museum's exhibition opened to the public in the middle of Black History Month 2015, and ended in the middle of Black History Month 2016. Museum visitors learned about letters carried by slaves, mail to and from civil rights leaders, and original artwork from the USPS Black Heritage stamp series.