January 27, 2012 - October 14, 2012
NMAAHC Gallery at the National Museum of American History

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Monticello will present Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty, an exhibition of artifacts from the Smithsonian’s collections and from excavations at Jefferson’s Virginia plantation.

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and called slavery an “abominable crime,” yet he was a lifelong slaveholder. The exhibition will provide a look at the lives of six slave families living at Monticello alongside Jefferson and his family. Personal belongings and working tools will be on display, and visitors will have a chance to learn about the families’ connections to one another, their religious faith and their efforts to pursue literacy and freedom.

Please visit the exhibition website, slaveryatmonticello.org to learn more.

Public Programs

Black History Month Family Day Celebration
Saturday, February 4
11:30 am-3:00 pm
National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum
Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard
8 and F Streets, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown

Bring the whole family to the Smithsonian’s kickoff celebration of Black History Month. This family day of activities is inspired by the exhibition, The Black List. It includes performances by guitarist Warner Williams and step team Taratibu, a puppet show (Can You Spell Harlem? by Schroeder Cherry), hands-on arts-and-craft activities (including silhouette portraiture inspired by the NMAAHC exhibition entitled Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty), a gallery tour and video interviews by the Hirshhorn’s ArtLab+ teen videographers.

Monticello, Slavery, and the Hemingses: A Conversation Between Annette Gordon-Reed and Michel Martin
Monday, February 6, 2012
7:00-9:00 pm
National Museum of Natural History
Baird Auditorium
10th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Metro: Smithsonian/Federal Triangle

NPR’s Tell Me More host Michel Martin and Prof. Annette Gordon-Reed, Prof. of Law, Harvard University, and Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family will discuss the lives of six slave families living at Monticello alongside Jefferson and his family. They will also explore ideas about how Thomas Jefferson and the 11 other American Presidents who owned slaves could have used the power of their office to end slavery and improve the lives of free black communities across the U.S., and chose not to. This program is based on the exhibition, Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty. Copies of The Hemingses of Monticello, and Andrew Johnson will be available for sale and signing. The event is free and open to the public on a first come-first seated basis. Please call 202/633-0070 for more information.

Mission Preservation: Classroom Treasures Program

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is pleased to offer free in-school programs for grades 4 – 6 in the local DC Metro area, which includes DC, Fairfax County, Arlington County, Alexandria, Prince Georges County, and Montgomery County. In this 70-minute program, Museum Teachers will conduct object-based, standards-related programming that will focus on learning from primary resources and preserving family oral histories and objects. For more information on the program, click here.


Want the museum to come to your school? Register your class today!

The Civil Rights History Project

In October 2010 NMAAHC began interviewing people who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement as foot soldiers, leaders and supporters. The Civil Rights History Project will become one of the outstanding national records of the Movement and these first-person narratives will be shared with generations of future Americans.

We are saddened by the passing of U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Perry, interviewed on June 7, 2011 for the Civil Rights History Project.

Perry as the young, inexperienced black lawyer who soon learned how to outmaneuver a racist municipal judge by using the appeal process:



Please watch more excerpts from the Judge Matthew Perry interviews on our Youtube channel:

Perry as the attorney for Sarah Fleming, whose SC case preceded the Rosa Parks case.

Perry as a World War II soldier who encountered segregation in a public facility where Italian POWs were treated as special guests, while Perry was treated as a second-class citizen.