Churchill’s famed “Iron Curtain” speech ushered in the Cold War and made the term a household phrase.

The story of a swagger stick presented to T/3 John Sweitzer by his German prisoners.

US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve Sgt. and Museum family member Bernice Williams turns 100 years old on March 1, 2021. She says that her 1943-1945 service as a Marine made her a “better person.”

For civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, World War II was a crucial time when he explored nonviolent direct action as a philosophy and a method for challenging racial inequality.

In December 1944, Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills became the first African American WAVES officers.

Medgar Evers was one of more than a million African Americans who served in the US military during World War II. He returned home only to face daily discrimination and paid the ultimate price for his fight against inequality.
 

The Museum highlights educational resources for teachers and students that can be used to explore Japanese American incarceration.

In the bloodiest  battle in Marine Corps history, 27 Marines and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for action on Iwo Jima. No other campaign surpassed that number.

C.L.R. James (1901-1989) called for mass resistance to Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.

Edward Carter was one of seven African Americans who had their earlier awards upgraded to the Medal of Honor on January 13, 1997. Like all but one of the veterans, he did not live to see this honor.

After four years of cancelled celebrations, Mardi Gras returned in 1946. For the veteran flambeaux carriers—a dangerous and physically taxing job—the need for better wages resulted in a historic strike that caused “a post-war rude awakening.”

USS Mason was the first US Navy fleet vessel crewed by a majority of African American sailors.