Smithsonian Affiliations

Cameroonian artist Franck Kemkeng Noah created and performed in this sculptural costume while a teaching resident artist at Texas Southern University in 2023. Kemkeng Noah mentored TSU art students as part of his residency. The students also gained practical industry skills by assisting with installing his exhibition “Memory Palaces” at the University Museum at Texas Southern University.

Kemkeng Noah’s art blends his Cameroonian cultural background with the European and American contexts in which he has worked. While primarily a painter, Noah used his residency to explore working with sculpture. This sculpture, using found objects collected in Houston, is a coat inspired by masks and other cultural traditions of western Cameroon.

You can see Noah’s sculptural costume in “At the Vanguard: Making and Saving History at HBCUs” on view now at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture through July 19.

“At the Vanguard” is a collaboration between the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. It is part of the HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium Initiative made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and a bequest from Dr. Beryl Carter Rice.

📷: Courtesy of The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture; Collection of University Museum at Texas Southern University

In time for the 250th anniversary of the country, the Smithsonian has assembled a variety of programs, resources and success stories to help educators guide students through aspects of civic engagement, collected on the new Civic Education at the Smithsonian website.

Learn more about the tools Smithsonian educators use to facilitate civic engagement, and help young people envision and design the future they want to live in. http://s.si.edu/civic-education

And join us on Tuesday, July 14 at 3pm, EDT for “We the Teachers: New Resources for Civic Education” at the Smithsonian National Education Summit to hear from Smithsonian educators and collaborators about how students are contributing to civic life in America today. Register here for the National Education Summit https://s.si.edu/EducationSummit2026

What does civic engagement mean to you, and to the youth around you?

Civics can sometimes feel removed from students’ lives, focused on how government and policy works. Civic education makes this knowledge come alive, showing students how to envision and create the communities they want to live in. Understanding the communities they are part of, identifying issues they care about and want to change, and knowing how to research and talk to others to inform an action plan – are all part of civic engagement that ultimately makes every community stronger.

Youth care about their communities and are eager to shape their futures. They benefit from the support of educators committed to strengthening their civic identities and expression.

In time for the 250th anniversary of the country, the Smithsonian has assembled a variety of programs, resources and success stories to help educators guide students through aspects of civic engagement, collected on the new Civic Education at the Smithsonian website.

Learn more about the tools Smithsonian educators use to facilitate civic engagement, and help young people envision and design the future they want to live in. http://s.si.edu/civic-education

And join us on Tuesday, July 14 at 3pm, EDT for “We the Teachers: New Resources for Civic Education” at the Smithsonian National Education Summit to hear from Smithsonian educators and collaborators about how students are contributing to civic life in America today. Register here for the National Education Summit https://s.si.edu/EducationSummit2026

Our Smithsonian Affiliate the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History is celebrating with an exploration of historic contributions and science innovations from a stellar roster of amazing q***r individuals throughout history! 🔬🧪🏳‍🌈

Join us this Pride Month as we explore historic contributions and science innovations from a stellar roster of amazing q***r individuals throughout history! 🔬🧪🏳‍🌈

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.



Image: Courtesy of Smithsonian Affiliations

At noon on Wednesday, June 3, Eric Hintz, director of The Smithsonian's Lemelson Center, will present reflections on regional innovation cultures while highlighting Mississippi’s significant contributions to American industry and innovation, for at the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Visitors are also encouraged to view "Mississippi Made," a special exhibit currently on display at the museums, sponsored by Wayne-Sanderson Farms.

This free event will also stream live on the MDAH page and YouTube channel. This program is part of the "Making History, Making Change Lecture Series" 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 and Meridel Bulle-Vu.

Discover how innovation on Lake Champlain helped shape the American Revolution during this Thursday’s lecture!

Dr. Kenneth Cohen, Chair of Military History and Curator of Early American History at the National Museum of American History, explores the extraordinary summer construction project that played a pivotal role in preserving the Revolution in “Crafting Independence.”

Join in person or online Thursday, June 4 at 12:15pm:
https://springfieldmuseums.org/program/crafting-independence-how-an-unprecedented-construction-project-on-lake-champlain-preserved-the-revolution/

Explore Western Mass Springfield Downtown Smithsonian Affiliations

Image: Gunboat Philadelphia, National Museum of American History.

Hello Pittsburgh! 👋 It’s Kara Blond, director of SITES | Smithsonian Affiliations. I’m here at our Smithsonian Affiliate the Heinz History Center.

Can’t wait to hear Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum curator Rachel Seidman give a talk as part of our “Making History, Making Change” lecture series about women and financial independence. Big thanks to the Heinz History Center for hosting us!