We Make History

Now showing30 May 2026 – 2 January 2028Free

Ahead of the museum's 60th anniversary, this show asks how Washingtonians keep their own history - anchored by the diary of Adam Francis Plummer, with letters, photographs and hands-on archiving stations.

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On now All of October 2026

The diary's first entry is dated 30 May 1841, and this show opened on 30 May 2026, 185 years later to the day. Adam Francis Plummer started it while enslaved in Prince George's County, Maryland, logging births, deaths, anniversaries and household inventories. After he died, his daughter Nellie kept it going, correcting his spelling and adding to his stories.

The diary anchors five sections: primary sources, historic places, sports, the arts and the museum's own history. You pass Marian Anderson's coat, a guitar that belonged to go-go's Chuck Brown and a Washington Spirit jersey, and then the show hands the job to you: stations with magnetic words, building bricks and collectible cards ask what from your own life is worth keeping.

Come for the diary, which the museum believes is the only known multigenerational diary started by an enslaved person in the United States. Admission is free, and it runs until January 2028.

Look for

The Plummer family diary
Look for entries begun in 1841 recording births, deaths, anniversaries and household inventories, later corrected and extended in his daughter Nellie's hand.
Marian Anderson's coat
The fur coat the contralto wore for her performance at the Lincoln Memorial.
Chuck Brown's guitar
A guitar that belonged to the Godfather of Go-Go, D.C.'s own genre.
The Howard Theatre photo spot
A photo station puts you in front of the Howard Theatre as your backdrop.