Students
We believe education is a key component to personal and societal betterment.
The Teaching and Learning Unit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture creates programs and resources for students in grades 3-12 (ages 8-18) designed to encourage multiple perspective-taking and build critical thinking skills. Our initiatives encourage students to explore, question, and create history in order to develop self-pride and inspire life-long learning.
Students exploring the Slavery and Freedom exhibition through a curator-led tour.
The NMAAHC does not currently offer in-gallery or virtual guided tours for school groups. Find out more about visiting the museum with your student(s) or school group.
Museum and Digital Resources
My NMAAHC Journal
Students, use this in-gallery activity to explore the Community or Culture galleries. Find artifacts and stories that interest you and use them to practice ways to think like a historian and how to question gallery objects.
NMAAHC Learning Labs
Continue your experience with the museum at home!
Learning Lab from the Smithsonian Institution is a free, interactive platform for learners and educators. Users can explore well-known and lesser-known moments of history through millions of authentic, digital resources, create content with online tools, and share in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning​.
National History Day
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is eager to support students who are engaging in historical research for projects, especially those related to National History Day. As the national museum devoted to telling the American story through the African American lens, the NMAAHC can assist students in exploring multiple perspectives in history by providing access to primary sources and supporting materials.
Moving Through History
Moving Through History is created for students to engage in learning history through exercise and movement. These resources combine exercise and examining objects and narratives primarily from the NMAAHC galleries and collections.
Through the Window and into the Mirror: Narratives of African American STEM Professionals
A Career Conversation Series
The NMAAHC invites middle and high school students to join us as we explore careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Through the Window and into the Mirror is a video conversation series about the experiences of African American STEM professionals today.
Explore our Education Initiatives
Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world Political Leader
A group of students that participated in the Young Historians Institute, 2019.
Students that participated in the Power of the Written Word, 2019.
TWLI participants, 2014.
Facilitators read and discuss with participants, 2014.
Students visit NMAAHC for STEM workshop, 2018.
Staff works with students in STEM Workshop, 2018.
Students participate in a team building activity which uses Jenga pieces to encourage collaboration, 2014.
Students participate in National History Day at NMAAHC morning program, 2017.
"The Wright Family" listening exercise, 2015.
Students enjoy a laugh during a workshop, 2018.
Group discussion in the D.W. Reynolds Center courtyard, 2014.
TWLI participants visited the NMAAHC gallery, 2013.
Students visit galleries during National History Day contest, 2017.
Students visit galleries during Young Historians Institute, 2019.
Students gather to take a group selfie photo, 2015.