Tours

Activist Animals Unleashed! Finding Your Role in the Environmental Justice Movement (Grades 5-12)

Join us on a unique quest to find your inner "activist animal" type and unleash your potential to fight against environmental injustice. Explore your unique skills set and identify through dialogue, problem-solving, and role-play. Witness the power of real D.C. change makers- courageous women who fight on behalf of communities unfairly affected by pollution, toxins, and other environmental harms. During this experience we'll learn that real change requires more than an inspirational orator; it requires the efforts and skills of all kinds of people who are rarely found in textbooks- from behind-the scenes strategists to researchers and caretakers. Guaranteed, there is a place for you in creating a more sustainable. and inclusive future.

This 90 minute tour takes place in the ACM Gallery and our current exhibition "To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C"

To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C.

In-museum group tours

Women have led the environmental justice movement. Women are often the ones who notice patterns of disease in their communities, fight to protect their families and neighbors, and bear the burden of health disparities. In this exhibition from the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, explore how local women of color draw on a long history of activism and advance environmental justice efforts not only in D.C., but across the country and beyond. Visitors will be inspired as they learn why women have become leaders in the environmental justice movement, which pathways they have taken to arrive there, and how their efforts benefit our local communities and the earth. 

Great for change-makers looking for inspiration, families, and students aged 10 and up who are interested in learning about environmental justice and activism.

Before the Bulldozers: Historic Southwest D.C. Exposed

An immersive app-based audio walk through Southwest - available for group tours or self-guided

Step into 1950s Southwest D.C. on the eve of one of the federal government’s most destructive experiments: urban renewal. Augmented reality combined with rich, textured audio allows 21st Century participants to take a walk through a historic neighborhood that has largely disappeared. Using location-based storytelling, we trace the paths of three characters: an amateur photographer determined to capture his endangered community on film, an architect whose vision of a gleaming new Southwest captured the imagination of city planners, and a current-day resident of the new Southwest grappling with the paradox of gentrification.

• Starts at Waterfront Metro Station
• Phones provided for students
• Educator-led walking tour (1 mile), ending at the waterfront with a dialogue session
• Best for 5th grade and up
• Maximum 40 students, lasts 1.5 hours