Arvopedia is a free, open digital archive dedicated to preserving the cultural memory of the United States — its writing, photography, film, and music — for the public, in perpetuity.
We collect works that have shaped American life and make them browseable in a single, plainspoken place. No advertising. No paywalls. No noise.
Projects
- Activist
Assata Shakur
Assata Shakur was a Black liberation activist associated with the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army who became an icon of Black radicalism after her conviction in the 1973 killing of a New Jersey state trooper, escape from prison in 1979, and long-term political asylum in Cuba, where she remained a symbolic figure until her death in 2025.
1947–2025N/AAdded Aug 14, 2026 - Chemistry
Marie Maynard Daly
Marie Maynard Daly was the first Black American woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States and a pioneering biochemist whose research advanced understanding of the relationship between cholesterol, hypertension, and heart disease.
1921–2003New York, NYAdded Aug 13, 2026 - Abolitionist and orator
Henry "Box" Brown
Henry "Box" Brown was an enslaved Black American who famously escaped from slavery in Virginia by shipping himself in a wooden crate to abolitionists in Philadelphia, later becoming a well-known antislavery speaker and performer in the United States and Britain.
c. 1815–1897N/AAdded Aug 12, 2026 - Music and Entertainment
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was a pioneering African American singer and actress who helped bridge blues, jazz, Broadway, film, and radio, becoming one of the first Black performers to achieve mainstream success and earning an Academy Award nomination for her acting.
1896–1977N/AAdded Aug 11, 2026 - Law
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was a pioneering Black American economist and civil rights lawyer, the first Black woman to earn a PhD in economics in the United States and a leading advocate for civil rights over a 50-year legal career.
1898–1989Philadelphia, PAAdded Aug 10, 2026 - inventor, draftsman, and engineer
Lewis Latimer
Lewis Latimer was an influential African American inventor and engineer whose work on durable carbon filaments helped make incandescent lighting practical and affordable.
1848–1928New York, NYAdded Aug 9, 2026 - Civil rights activism
Ella Josephine Baker
Ella Baker was a key strategist and organizer of the U.S. civil rights movement, helping to build the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and co-founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
1903–1986New York, NYAdded Aug 8, 2026