Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum

06/23/2026

A significant part of the Anacostia Community Museum’s collection documents the people of Anacostia, our neighborhood in southeast Washington, DC. These include past and present teachers, students, artists, community activists, physicians, clergy, and business-owners.

Learn more about some of the stories and objects of the people in Anacostia. https://anacostia.si.edu/collection/spotlight/anacostianeighborhood

06/22/2026

Octavia E. Butler was born on this day 1947. This Olivetti Studio 46 Typewriter belonged to Butler, and now resides in our permanent collection, who wrote science fiction when few black writers did.

Butler began writing at age 10 and eventually used a computer to compose, but noted, “I didn’t always. I wrote my first ten books on a manual typewriter of one kind or another….She [my mother] did day work; she made not very much money….here she had a daughter begging for a typewriter.”

Butler’s blue typewriter dates to the 1970s. It is manual, not electric; fingers must make metal letters leap to leave an inky imprint on paper rolled into the machine by hand. Though this model was made in Spain, Olivetti is an Italian company known for design. The red “Tab” key, for instance, stands solo in a field of creamy white. A case protects the machine from dust; its handle makes the typewriter portable. The ACM exhibition, All the Stories Are True: African American Writers Speak, featured the typewriter in 2004.

06/21/2026

Today marks the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere

Colors emerge from within the canvas in this “all-over” stain painting entitled "Summer's Edge". Howard Mehring visited the studio of Helen Frankenthaler, the inventor of "soak-stain" painting, to learn about this technique in 1955. Like other members of the Washington Color School, he modified the technique before eventually moving into hard-edge geometric abstraction.

Here, layered daubs of paint and blotting enable yellows and blues to peek through the predominantly orange composition. This gives the impression of a cloud of late summer heat that eventually gives way to the brilliant foliage of autumn.

06/20/2026

⭐🛼🎶Join us tonight for an all ages unforgettable evening of music, movement, and community beneath the night sky. Enjoy a late-night skate featuring sounds by Farrah Flosscett, immersive stargazing experiences, and after-hours access to ACM’s newest exhibition "We Make History."

🔗Let us know you're joining: https://s.si.edu/4xqp7Qu

06/18/2026

For nearly 40 years, the Anacostia Community Museum has welcomed the local community to celebrate Juneteenth. Tomorrow we will be celebrating again through powerful live music, a late skate under the stars, cooking demonstrations, front-porch foodways conversations, gardening and more.

This free, family friendly, full-day event runs from 10AM to 10PM and transforms the museum grounds into a vibrant, block party-style celebration.

Explore the full schedule and let us know you're joining by visiting: https://anacostia.si.edu/juneteenth

06/17/2026

Joining us for the 2026 Juneteenth Freedom Celebration on Friday?

✨The event will run from 10AM-10PM and is free (with food to purchase onsite) and open to the public!
✨Follow ACM on social media to get the most up to date information regarding any weather related changes
✨This is an indoor/outdoor event- so grab your hat, sunscreen, and water bottles!
✨Did you know you can bring folding chairs and blankets to enjoy the stage?
✨Outside food is welcomed, or swing by one of the local food trucks joining us!

What to expect:
🎵Get ready for powerful performances from amazing local artists!
🦀Join the dialogue with What’s Cracking: History and Culture of the Black Community and Shellfish.
🌿Get hands on with Everyday Herbalism & Modern-Day Pickling Workshop.
🛼After the main stage, enjoy a late skate experience in the museum parking lot featuring music by DJ B Sharp.

🔗Learn more: https://anacostia.si.edu/juneteenth

06/15/2026

🦀Join us this Friday for What’s Cracking: History and Culture of the Black Community and Shellfish!

✨As part of our Juneteenth Freedom Celebration, this fireside chat explores the deep-rooted connection between Black communities and the shellfish culture of the Chesapeake Bay. Featuring Ricardo, owner of Who Want Smoke Charbroiled Oyster (WWSCO), and Imani Black, founder of Minorities in Aquaculture. Moderated by Adrian Miller, two-time James Beard Award-winning author.

🔗Learn more about the Juneteenth Freedom Celebration and let us know you're joining: https://anacostia.si.edu/juneteenth

06/14/2026

📍Pleasant Street, S.E., circa 1970s.

This image shows houses and cars parked on Pleasant Street, S.E., it documents the facades of buildings as they appeared in 1970s, the image was used to inform a planning survey of the Anacostia area.

Learn more: https://s.si.edu/3Wg6b5u

06/13/2026

06/13/2026

A profusion of flowers adorns this wide-brimmed hat worn by journalist Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), which is now on view in our gallery as part of "We Make History".

A photo from the early 1960s shows Payne, whose love of hats bloomed in early adulthood, wearing this pistachio hat with panache. Accented with a matching bow and tulle, the custom hat bears a bouquet bursting with pink roses, velvety violets, green leaves, and glass grapes, all stitched to the hat by hand.
Both wide-brim and floral hats remained popular during much of Payne’s reporting career, from the 1940s to the 1970s.

A Chicago native, Payne moved to Washington, DC in 1952 to cover national and international news for the leading African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. The lifelong civil rights activist reported from thirty countries over the course of her trailblazing career, becoming known as the First Lady of the Black Press.