Description: Born in 1829 to free black parents along the border between Maryland and the District of Columbia, Solomon Galleon Brown would become, at age 23, the first black employee of the Smithsonian. Starting out as a laborer in the Exchange Office, he ultimately became the personal assistant of Spencer Baird, the second secretary of the Smithsonian. By the time of his 1904 retirement,
Description: [view in Spanish]The exhibition from which this website is derived was exhibited at the Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center Gallery in 1996 to commemorate the Smithsonian Institution's 150th anniversary.This online exhibition was developed and written by a working group consisting of Dr. Jane MacLaren Walsh, Dr. Pamela M. Henson, and Dr. Margaret R. Dittemore and