VIRTUAL PROGRAMS
Pandemic Perspectives
Race and Place: Yellow Fever and the Free African Society in Philadelphia
Feb. 2; 4-5 p.m.
Zoom Registration Link:
https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NqQ-UWqYRHamMnq3iaPeyA
Join curators and historians for a series of panels offering perspectives on the current pandemic. Panelists will virtually share objects from the past, using them as a springboard to a discussion of how to better understand the present. Audience questions are encouraged.
Moderator:
Alexandra Lord, National Museum of American History
Moderators:
Billy Smith, Montana State University
David Barnes, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, George Washington University
Innovative Lives: Jessica O. Matthews
Feb. 10; 4-5:30 p.m.
Free event, for more information: https://invention.si.edu/about/events
The Lemelson Center’s Innovative Lives series engages audiences in public conversations with diverse inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs about their pioneering work and careers. This month we’re joined by Nigerian-American inventor, CEO, and venture capitalist Jessica O. Matthews. Matthews is the co-founder of Uncharted Power, and inventor of Soccket, a soccer ball that harnesses the kinetic energy of the ball during normal game play and stores it to be used as a power generator.
Pandemic Perspectives
Essential Workers: Prestige Versus Pay
Feb. 16; 4-5 p.m.
Zoom Registration Link:
https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mlE9FusOT0mLUzVVOv0wBg
Join curators and historians for a series of panels offering perspectives on the current pandemic. Panelists will virtually share objects from the past, using them as a springboard to a discussion of how to better understand the present. Audience questions are encouraged.
Moderator:
Alexandra Lord, National Museum of American History
Panelists:
Peter Liebhold, National Museum of American History
Molly Kinder, Brookings Institute
Jacob Remes, New York University, Gallatin
Day of Remembrance 2021: Race in America, Unifying Our Communities
Feb. 19; 6 p.m.
For more information: https://americanhistory.si.edu/day-of-remembrance
The program will focus on issues of race, inequity and justice and explore how Americans currently understand, experience and confront racism, its impact on communities and how that impact is shaping America and its value. This year features David Ono’s documentary called “FACEism” to examine the often-ignored history, erase stereotyping and move toward a better understanding of each other and the challenges facing the nation today.
Live Virtual Conversation: "Tell Me What Democracy Looks Like: Viral Histories II"
Feb. 26; 1 p.m.
For more information: http://s.si.edu/tmwdll
The National Museum of American History asks audiences: "What does democracy look like today?" The museum will present a live virtual conversation focusing on undocumented organizers and how they are expanding democratic practice. It is centered on five topics from its testimonial video series, ranging from mutual aid groups formed by undocumented communities to survive Covid-19; the impact of the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attacks on immigrant communities; the DREAM Act; deportation, detention and policing policies and the organizing across identities by various communities of color and LGBTQ groups.
The conversation may be accessed in the museum's YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/featured. The testimonial videos with information about the project and learning resources can be accessed here: http://s.si.edu/tmwdll.
Charlie Parker Centennial
Feb. 26, 7–8:30 p.m.
Fee and program information here: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/streaming/
In his short life, legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker changed the world of music, creating with a small group of innovators the musical style called bop or bebop. Like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, he was a pioneering composer and improviser who ushered in a new era of jazz and influenced later generations of musicians and artists.
Join SJMO’s artistic director and conductor Charlie Young, Dwandalyn R. Reece, curator of Music and Performing Arts at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Bobby Watson from the American Jazz Museum as they take us back in time to hear the Grammy Award-winning Parker’s sound and to understand how his brilliance and charisma had an impact on the course of music like no other.
In partnership with the Smithsonian Associates.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM
Through incomparable collections, rigorous research, and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History seeks to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by examining, preserving and sharing the complexity of our past. The museum, located on Constitution Avenue N.W., between 12th and 14th Streets, is closed as of Nov. 23.
Editor's Note: All media requests should come through the Office of Communications and Marketing. Please contact us at NMAHCommunications@si.edu with inquiries.
Rebecca Seel
seelr@si.edu