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⚔️Tickets are on sale now for The Battle of Huck’s Defeat July 11 & 12 at our link in bio!

Step back in time to the sights and sounds of the American Revolution as we focus on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution! Watch the annual Battle of Huck’s Defeat unfold as you see the Carolina Piedmont’s role in the Southern Campaign, the fight for freedom, and how this battle was a crucial victory and turning point in the war.

We’re excited to announce some new additions to this year’s festivities like:
🇺🇸 Partnering with Charlotte Museum of History and their new augmented reality exhibition, “American Revolution: The Augmented Exhibition” where visitors at Huck’s Defeat will have a unique chance to use immersive Histopad technology, to explore Huck’s Defeat and the famous reaping hook scene right where it took place in 1780!

✉️We will also be joined by Lynn Heidelbaugh, curator at Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Her discussion will bring postal history to life at the commemoration of the Battle of Huck’s Defeat. Join us for a fascinating look at letters, espionage, and independence!

#thebattleofhucksdefeat #battle #reenactment #southcarolina #revolution

Our “Water/Ways” exhibition dives into our deep connection with water. It explores how this essential component of life touches and impacts our lives environmentally, culturally, and historically. You can explore “Water/Ways” now at the @coresoundmuseum! #Waterways #WaterIsLife

Bayard Rustin once wrote, “The only weapon we have is our bodies.” Rustin’s life was not only a testament to the non-violent weaponization of his own body, it was a call for the bodily freedom to live as he deemed and love whom he desired.

As one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rustin worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. to bring about the boycott of Montgomery’s segregated buses in 1956, during which time he introduced King to Gandhi’s philosophy of resistance. Rustin’s mastery of civil disobedience tactics reached an apex in 1963. That year would see him become a key organizer of the now famous March on Washington, a moment immortalized by the images of thousands of bodies becoming weapons in the fight for jobs and freedom.

But Rustin’s struggle for equal rights was not confined to his race; as an openly gay man, he was attacked and shunned by friend and foe alike. His refusal to hide who he was while he continued to fight on the front lines of the civil rights movement revealed the heart of a hero—one who understood that the only true freedom is complete freedom.

Bayard Rustin was featured in our “Men Of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth.” exhibition which traveled from 2019 through 2023.

#PrideMonth #SmithsonianPride #MenOfChange

Image: Courtesy of @librarycongress

The Smithsonian is bringing its Making History, Making Change series to Houston and The Health Museum is one of 25 Smithsonian Affiliates across the country selected to host this special event. Join us for this inspiring panel discussion, for more info head to the link in bio! 🔬🌟

📅June 18 | 3:00pm - 4:00pm
🎟️This event is free to attend with registration

The Making History, Making Change Lecture Series is organized by Smithsonian Affiliations as part of the Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250. It is supported in part by the Dreier Family, Johanna and Ken Kim Family, Vaishali Shah Chadha and Family, and Michael Vu & Meridel Bulle-Vu.

#TheHealthMuseum #Smithsonian250 #MakingHistoryMakingChange #CancerResearch

If you’re human, you’re biased. But, the real question is: what do we do about it? Every brain develops its biases from the environment. But bias does not dictate our destiny. Explore the science of bias in @sitesexhibitions “The Bias Inside Us” exhibit on view now at the @thewrightmuseum! #RetrainYourBrain

This is pioneering Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist Margaret Hamilton. MIT played a critical role in the development of the flight software for NASA’s Apollo program, which landed humans on the Moon for the first time in 1969. Hamilton led the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory to develop the Apollo program’s guidance system. Ensuring that the programs had no errors required an enormous amount of paper documentation!

In our free “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission” poster set, you can explore more stories of the many women who played a crucial role in making this historic mission possible! Request your digital copy here: https://s.si.edu/45JSG1B 🚀🌒

#Apollo11 #WomenInSTEM #WomenLeaders #MoonMonday #DestinationMoon Smithsonian

Hi Friends! 🙋‍♀️ It’s Kara Blond, Director of @sitesexhibitions | @smithsonianaffiliates. Me and my colleagues across the @Smithsonian have been hitting the road and traveling to communities across the country. Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

Special thanks to our colleagues at the @smithsonianacm, @smithsonianfolklife, @smithsoniannmnh Conservation Institute, and to our colleagues at the @mariposaarts and our Affiliate the @weitzmanmuseum!

#OnTheRoad #SmithsonianInYourNeighborhood #SmithsonianRuralInitiative

Hi Friends! 🙋‍♀️ It’s Kara Blond, Director of @sitesexhibitions | @smithsonianaffiliates. Me and my colleagues across the @Smithsonian have been hitting the road and traveling to communities across the country. Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

Special thanks to our colleagues at the @smithsonianacm, @smithsonianfolklife, @smithsoniannmnh Conservation Institute, and to our colleagues at the @mariposaarts and our Affiliate the @weitzmanmuseum!

#OnTheRoad #SmithsonianInYourNeighborhood #SmithsonianRuralInitiative

Hi Friends! 🙋‍♀️ It’s Kara Blond, Director of @sitesexhibitions | @smithsonianaffiliates. Me and my colleagues across the @Smithsonian have been hitting the road and traveling to communities across the country. Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

Special thanks to our colleagues at the @smithsonianacm, @smithsonianfolklife, @smithsoniannmnh Conservation Institute, and to our colleagues at the @mariposaarts and our Affiliate the @weitzmanmuseum!

#OnTheRoad #SmithsonianInYourNeighborhood #SmithsonianRuralInitiative

Hi Friends! 🙋‍♀️ It’s Kara Blond, Director of @sitesexhibitions | @smithsonianaffiliates. Me and my colleagues across the @Smithsonian have been hitting the road and traveling to communities across the country. Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

Special thanks to our colleagues at the @smithsonianacm, @smithsonianfolklife, @smithsoniannmnh Conservation Institute, and to our colleagues at the @mariposaarts and our Affiliate the @weitzmanmuseum!

#OnTheRoad #SmithsonianInYourNeighborhood #SmithsonianRuralInitiative

Hi Friends! 🙋‍♀️ It’s Kara Blond, Director of @sitesexhibitions | @smithsonianaffiliates. Me and my colleagues across the @Smithsonian have been hitting the road and traveling to communities across the country. Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

Special thanks to our colleagues at the @smithsonianacm, @smithsonianfolklife, @smithsoniannmnh Conservation Institute, and to our colleagues at the @mariposaarts and our Affiliate the @weitzmanmuseum!

#OnTheRoad #SmithsonianInYourNeighborhood #SmithsonianRuralInitiative

Hi Friends! 🙋‍♀️ It’s Kara Blond, Director of @sitesexhibitions | @smithsonianaffiliates. Me and my colleagues across the @Smithsonian have been hitting the road and traveling to communities across the country. Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to!

Special thanks to our colleagues at the @smithsonianacm, @smithsonianfolklife, @smithsoniannmnh Conservation Institute, and to our colleagues at the @mariposaarts and our Affiliate the @weitzmanmuseum!

#OnTheRoad #SmithsonianInYourNeighborhood #SmithsonianRuralInitiative

Get more facts about hummingbirds and many other pollinators in “Pollination Investigation,” a poster set from the @sitesexhibitions and our colleagues @smithsoniangardens. See our bio to download your free digital copy!

#PollinationInvestigation #Hummingbirds #SmithsonianPosterExhibits

At Manny’s Bike Shop in Compton, CA, Manuel and Manny Silva (known as the “godfather of lowrider bikes”) have been building custom lowrider bikes since 1973. Kids and teens learn the art of customization through building lowrider bikes.

Lowriders are custom-built cars featuring hydraulics: They are low to the ground and can be raised with the flip of a switch. But lowriding is more than just the mechanics of building and painting a car—it’s also a way of life and the expression of a vibrant community! It is a celebration of joy, pride, family, and respect.

Plan your visit to @cityoffarmingtonnm museums to see our bilingual exhibition “Lowrider Culture in the United States / Cultura lowrider en los Estados Unidos” to explore more of this vibrant living tradition!

#lowrider #lowriderculture #smithsonian

📷: Manuel and Manny, The Originators Compton, California, 2015; Photo by Amanda Lopez

This was Ely S. Parker (Seneca). At the Confederate surrender at Appomattox in 1865, he was the highest-ranking American Indian in the Union Army, a lieutenant colonel. As General Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary, Parker drafted the terms of surrender. A popular story states that Confederate General Robert E. Lee, noticing that Parker was an American Indian, remarked, “I am glad to see one real American here.” Parker later recalled, “I shook his hand and said, ‘We are all Americans.’”

Plan your visit to @irvingarchivesandmuseum (one of our @Smithsonian Affiliates) to see our “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces” traveling exhibition. You’ll explore more stories of Native military involvement and Native American military service from its origins to the modern day.

This exhibition is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (@smithsoniannmai).

#MemorialDay #WhyWeServe

Photo by Mathew Brady, National Archives photo no. 529376

Attending #AAM2026 in Philly? 🔔 Join us in booth #920 in the MuseumExpo for a coffee break! We’ll tell you about the @Smithsonian’s traveling exhibitions.

Attending #AAM2026 in Philly? 🔔 Join us in booth #920 in the MuseumExpo for a coffee break! We’ll tell you about the @Smithsonian’s traveling exhibitions.

Attending #AAM2026 in Philly? 🔔 Join us in booth #920 in the MuseumExpo for a coffee break! We’ll tell you about the @Smithsonian’s traveling exhibitions.

The wait is over! We’ve unboxed the purrrrfect little surprise giveaway. 😻 (We love cat puns!). 

We’ve named this one Marisol...after artist Frank Stella, one of the many artists featured in our newest exhibition “Artful Cats.” This exhibition brings together more than 60 rare documents— sketches, drawings, letters, journal pages, and photographs— created by American artists from the 1880s to the 2010s.

Learn more about “Artful Cats” and our other traveling exhibitions in booth #920 at the @aamersofficial’s Annual Meeting! Can’t wait to chat. #AAM2026

The wait is over! We’ve unboxed the purrrrfect little surprise giveaway. 😻 (We love cat puns!). 

We’ve named this one Marisol...after artist Frank Stella, one of the many artists featured in our newest exhibition “Artful Cats.” This exhibition brings together more than 60 rare documents— sketches, drawings, letters, journal pages, and photographs— created by American artists from the 1880s to the 2010s.

Learn more about “Artful Cats” and our other traveling exhibitions in booth #920 at the @aamersofficial’s Annual Meeting! Can’t wait to chat. #AAM2026

The wait is over! We’ve unboxed the purrrrfect little surprise giveaway. 😻 (We love cat puns!). 

We’ve named this one Marisol...after artist Frank Stella, one of the many artists featured in our newest exhibition “Artful Cats.” This exhibition brings together more than 60 rare documents— sketches, drawings, letters, journal pages, and photographs— created by American artists from the 1880s to the 2010s.

Learn more about “Artful Cats” and our other traveling exhibitions in booth #920 at the @aamersofficial’s Annual Meeting! Can’t wait to chat. #AAM2026