Center for the Study of Global Slavery Slave Wrecks Project Internship

NOTE: Applications submitted through Handshake will NOT be considered.

Desired Majors and Areas of Study: History (especially African American, African diasporic, or historians of slavery), Museum Studies, and related fields

The Center for the Study of Global Slavery Slave Wrecks Project Internship is within the Office of Curatorial Affairs (OCA) at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). OCA including the Centers, facilitates the intellectual work of the Museum by collecting artifacts, ensuring collection preservation and stewardship, conducting research and scholarship, and sharing the rich history and culture of African Americans and all people of African descent with a diverse public in accessible, multifaceted ways including exhibition, digitization, and publication. OCA is comprised of many different divisions and teams including: Administration, History, Culture, Visual Art, The Centers and the Scholarly Advisor Committee. 

The Slave Wrecks Project (SWP) is an international network that investigates the history of the African slave trade across the globe and engages with the enduring legacies of that past in the present. SWP uses shipwrecks, their voyages, and related maritime landscapes as a distinctive point of entry for pursuing interdisciplinary research and developing dynamic public education and community engagement programs. SWP engages in local, national, and international collaborations designed to simultaneously build partner capacity, protect heritage, foster public dialogue, advance research, and promote greater diversity in scholarship. The Slave Wrecks Project intern will support ongoing research, fieldwork, exhibition, and digital work that the SWP conducts with our global partners. This will include a focus on supporting our ongoing global training program, Slave Wrecks Project Academy. The intern will work closely with our Coordinating Office members to plan and conduct our work. The intern will gain skills and valuable learning experience in the following areas: work experience at the Smithsonian related to large research projects; focusing on programming and planning; Globally collaborative projects, especially related to sensitive histories; Curriculum development and support for educational initiatives; Working at the intersection of history and contemporary issues of restorative justice.

Duties Include (but are not limited to):

• Supporting ongoing content development for the digital/web-based presence of In Slavery’s Wake 
• Support the development of the programmatic components of the In Slavery’s Wake exhibition, inclusive of research, coordination, collaborations across departments within NMAAHC, and attending meetings 
• Support with tasks related to the traveling exhibition, including research, writing, promotional, and organizational/administrative tasks 

Support public affairs and social media engagement