Description: Even before the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, the conflict in Europe was front and center in the minds of many Americans who wanted to do their part. The employees of the Smithsonian were no exception. Through their own Red Cross auxiliary, applying their expertise to the war effort, and making changes in their private lives, Smithsonian employees took
Description: On May 16, 1929, an exhibition of American Negro Artists opened on the ground floor of the Smithsonian’s US National Museum building. The exhibition featured fifty-one works by twenty-seven black sculptors and painters who won a juried competition sponsored by the Harmon Foundation.1Though the work selected remained distant from the most radical new work being created by