National History Day at NMAAHC Student Documentary Showcase

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is proud to feature student documentaries created for the National History Day (NHD) competition. We will explore and understand history through the lens of the next generation of historians and filmmakers.

National History Day is a global program for middle and high school students to produce and present an original historical research project on a topic of their choosing. Each year National History Day selects a theme that students must explore in their projects. The 2024 theme is Turning Points in History.

Students can present their research as a paper, an exhibit, a website, a performance, or a documentary. Students begin the competition cycle by entering their research projects at local and state levels, with top students advancing to the National Contest at the University of Maryland, College Park. All documentaries in the 2024 NHD at NMAAHC Student Documentary Showcase qualified for the National Contest.

The 15 documentaries represent the work of student historians and filmmakers. The documentaries chosen for this showcase highlight a range of topics that embody the mission and stories reflected in NMAAHC. The interpretations and opinions rendered in these documentaries, while based on historical research, are solely the work of the individual students and not the Smithsonian Institution.