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
- Dance and choreography
Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and helped establish African American modern dance as a major force in American culture.
1931–1989New York, NYAdded Oct 12, 2026 - Inventor and businessman
Garrett Augustus Morgan
Garrett Morgan was a pioneering Black American inventor and entrepreneur best known for developing the three-position traffic signal and an early protective breathing device.
1877–1963Cleveland, OHAdded Oct 11, 2026 - Civil rights activism
James Meredith
He became the first Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi in 1962, challenging segregation in higher education and later leading the 1966 March Against Fear.
1933–presentJackson, MSAdded Oct 10, 2026 - Civil rights activism
Mamie Till-Mobley
After her son Emmett Till was murdered in 1955, she insisted on an open-casket funeral that exposed the brutality of racial violence and helped galvanize the modern Civil Rights Movement.
1921–2003Chicago, ILAdded Oct 9, 2026 - Civil rights activism
Homer Plessy
Homer Plessy was the central plaintiff in Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of separate but equal.
1863–1925New Orleans, LAAdded Oct 8, 2026 - Military
Doris Miller
Doris Miller was a U.S. Navy sailor who rescued wounded shipmates and operated an anti-aircraft gun during the attack on Pearl Harbor, becoming the first Black American to receive the Navy Cross.
1919–1943Waco, TXAdded Oct 7, 2026 - Civil rights activism and education
Septima Poinsette Clark
Septima Clark was a civil rights educator whose Citizenship Schools taught literacy and civic skills to Black communities and strengthened voter-registration efforts across the American South.
1898–1987Charleston, SCAdded Oct 6, 2026