Description: As a laborer at the Smithsonian from 1882 until his death in 1918, Harrison Lomax served the Institution’s top leaders. A letter in our collections that he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley is an example of the ways in which African American employees advocated for themselves in order to earn promotions and raises.
Description: Dr. Lucille St. Hoyme, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, worked her way up from clerk to curator of physical anthropology researching variations of human traits from region to region over time. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Ellen Stofan, the first woman to be appointed Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, was NASA's chief scientist and a leader in the effort to send humans to Mars. #Groundbreaker