Emancipation

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with @AppleTV to help Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua to bring their vision to life for their new film project, Emancipation.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” -Angela Davis

Colonial newspapers contributed to the perpetuation of slavery. Advertised 250 years ago today: "To be SOLD ... A Negro man ... a negro" woman, "three girls, one of 14, one of 8, and one of 4 years old, also a negro boy." (New-York Gazette & Weekly Mercury Supplement 6/24/1771)

The Secretary's Gold Medal for Exceptional Service is the highest honor bestowed on Smithsonian staff members by the Secretary. I'm delighted to award it to Oris I. Sanjur, interim director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (@stri_panama), and Panamanian scientist.

Emancipation

Rare footage of all-Black towns in the 1920s.

I continue to mourn the life of George Floyd, whose murder one year ago led to a national reckoning on race and social justice. I hope that his memory continues to challenge us as a nation to be a place of fairness, equality, and hope.

Colonial newspapers contributed to the perpetuation of slavery. Advertised 250 years ago today: "RUN away ... a Negro Man named ABEL ... talks good English." (Connecticut Journal 5/17/1771)

White supremacy, colonialism, and imperialism frame oppression as progress. And all three characterize those that they savagely violate as savage violators.

The renowned Creole composer Edmond Dédé was born in New Orleans in 1829. His parents had emigrated from Saint-Domingue during the revolution, settling among the French-speaking free people of color that lived largely apart from the Americans who were busy settling Uptown.

"Songs in Flight," a musical companion project to Freedom on the Move @fotmproject, has a @NEAarts grant to create two major works highlighting "stories of strength" for performance in 2023. @fitz_gibbon_ @Ed_Baptist @CornellHistory @CornellCCSS as.cornell.edu/news/nea-grant…

Apple’s Will Smith-Antoine Fuqua Runaway Slave Thriller ‘Emancipation’ To Exit Georgia Over Recent Election Law deadline.com/2021/04/apple-…

Colonial newspapers contributed to the perpetuation of slavery. Advertised 250 years ago today: "SY, (or Cyrus) a Negro slave, of a yellow or copper- coloured complexion...having been RUNAWAY" (New-York Gazette & Weekly Mercury 3/25/1771)

An African American soldier in a Union uniform, in a tintype dating to 1863 to 1865. His Company B, 103rd Regiment forage cap designates either the U.S. Colored Troops or the U.S. Volunteers Service. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Library of Congress

In April of 1848, Mary and Emily, fled enslavement. They were just two of the 70 fugitives comprising the largest escape ever attempted by enslaved people in the U.S. When the ship was recaptured Mary and Emily were sent to New Orleans for sale as “fancy girls”—a as sex slaves.⁣

Happy Birthday to Rosa Parks! The civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free.” . #EmancipationMovie #BlackHistoryMonth

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson founded the first Negro History Week, timed to coincide with Abraham Lincoln’s and Fredrick Douglass’s birthdays. It wasn’t until 1976 that President Ford extended the observation to a full month—one honoring the contributions of black Americans. #BHM

After the Civil War, newspapers ran heartbreaking yet hopeful ads like this one, placed by formerly enslaved people searching for family members who had been separated by slavery. Behind each of these tersely-worded, somewhat formal ads is a struggle and a story. #BHM

The latest Essential: Stories That Honor Black Lives collection celebrates Black families in TV and film with artwork by @JonKey13. From biological family to chosen family to the diaspora, families take many forms — and so do their stories. apple.co/-EssentialStor…

Disturbing mid 19th century photo of a woman and an enslaved child.

Colonial newspapers contributed to the perpetuation of slavery. Advertised 250 years ago today: “TO BE SOLD, A Likely strong Negro Man, about 28 Years of Age, a Blacksmith by Trade” (Providence Gazette 1/12/1771)