Roughly one year ago, Jordan Brand and Michael Jordan announced a plan to donate $100 million over the next 10 years to organizations that promote racial equality, social justice and greater access to education. Today, the NBA icon’s namesake label revealed the destinations for its next three multiyear grants. Jordan Brand’s grant for The National Museum of African American History and Culture will go toward helping expand its Talking About Race web portal and Let’s Talk speaker series. “At the museum, we tell stories that are complex and meaningful, stories that have often been silenced from our past,” National Museum of African American History and Culture director Kevin Young said in a statement. “More than ever, we need those stories to highlight and emphasize the centrality of the African American experience to our nation’s history and healing.”

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, Jan. 17) by displaying Martin Luther King Jr.’s original speech from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The case containing the speech, which was initially on display in fall 2021, will be reinstalled just in time for visitors to view the historic document ahead of this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It will be on view in the “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom” gallery from Jan. 13 to Feb. 27.

Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), released the following statement today, Jan. 7, on the death of Sidney Poitier, influential actor, director, activist and ambassador.

Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), released the following statement today, Dec. 16, on the death of bell hooks, American author, feminist, critic, activist and scholar, who has died at the age of 69.

The Museum released the following statement on the death of Greg Tate, influential author, journalist and musician whose works amplified Black music, art and culture, at the age of 64.

December programming at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will feature a book discussion exploring the impact of Reconstruction on America’s post-Civil War Black community. Kevin Young, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the museum, leads the discussion with renowned historians Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates Jr, editors of the Library of America’s reissue of W.E.B. Dubois’ groundbreaking assessment of the Reconstruction era, “Black Reconstruction.”

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) today launched its newest digital initiative, The Searchable Museum(link is external). As part of the museum’s fifth anniversary, NMAAHC continues to engage audiences worldwide with online exhibitions, virtual symposia and digital programs.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is featuring a discussion of renowned historian and Harvard professor Tiya A. Miles’ new book, All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. In her latest book, Miles chronicles the story of three generations of Black women through Ashley’s sack, an embroidered cotton bag given to Ashley by her enslaved mother, Rose, before she was separated from her mother and sold during the period of slavery.

Statement on the death of Colin Powell, who has died at the age of 84. Powell was an American politician, statesman and military leader who served as United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first Black Secretary of State.

October programming at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will feature a probing conversation on its latest book, Make Good the Promises: Reclaiming Reconstruction and Its Legacies. The book is a companion to its newest exhibition, which features more than 175 objects, 300 images and 14 media programs and is on view now through Aug. 21, 2022.