From Lead Belly to Kendrick Lamar, Black musicians have long used song to share stories of struggle and triumph.

Conversations in Context: Music (13:43)

What role does the media play in the fight for freedom and equality? And what role should it play? Join MTV News host Dometi Pongo and Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III as they discuss the Freedom Riders, citizen journalism, media representation and image-making as it relates to civil rights.

Conversations in Context: Media (10:01)

On July 28, 1917, about 10,000 Black men, women, and children marched silently down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in one of the very first civil rights protests. Learn how, through marching for freedom and fairness, African Americans have fought to create a better America for everyone.

Conversations in Context: Marches (10:09)

History was never meant to be permanent; our understanding of what really happened should evolve over time. Join MTV News host Dometi Pongo and Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III as they discuss how we remember the past, from slavery narratives to Confederate monuments, and what we're meant to learn from it.

Conversations in Context: Memory (12:27)

In 1799, Alexander von Humboldt set foot in the jungles of Cumana, in present-day Venezuela. What ensued was a detailed scientific mission to learn more about the natural world.

Humboldt's Journey to Cumana Was Packed With Discovery (3:21)

Alexander von Humboldt was intrigued by deadly electric eels. He was so determined to learn more about them, that in Los Llanos, he’d hold them in his hands to test the strength of their shock.

This German Explorer Held Electric Eels in His Bare Hands (2:05)

See how researchers at Smithsonian's National Zoo are trying to glean insight into elephant foraging behavior and more.

How Smithsonian Researchers Are Studying Elephant Behavior (0:47)

It’s not often you sit down face-to-face with one of the pivotal figures in civil rights history: Carlotta Wells, one of the brave Little Rock Nine students who broke the school segregation barrier.

Meeting Up With a Key Member of the Little Rock Nine (3:37)

As the 2018 eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea progressed, the lava reached the ocean, producing clouds of laze as the molten rock hit cold seawater