The Civic Season
Join the History Center and more than 500 cultural organizations across America for the fifth annual Civic Season, held in partnership with the Smithsonian and the History Made By Us coalition.
Civic Season is a new summer tradition focused on utilizing our past to prepare for our future. This period of time unites our nation’s newest holiday, Juneteenth, with its oldest holiday, the Fourth of July, and is co-designed with Gen Z learners, thought leaders, and historians. Gen Z is the generation stepping into adult citizenship on the cusp of the United States’ 250th birthday in 2026, and Civic Season invites them to have a voice in the conversations that will shape it.
Here in Pittsburgh, you can attend one of several History Center programs during Civic Season, including a kick-off trivia night complete with free pizza and an in-person film screening for Juneteenth.
The Civic Season in Pittsburgh is supported by the Nimick Forbesway Foundation and Grable Foundation. It is part of the History Center’s America 101 history and civics initiative.
Civic Season 2025 Programs
Slice of History Trivia Night
Bring your friends for conversation, happy hour drinks, American history trivia, and free pizza after regular museum hours on June 12. Network with the region’s leading civics organizations, register to vote, and hang out with Pittsburghers who are making a difference in our community.
From Slavery to Freedom Film Series: “American Coup”
Join the African American Program for a special in-person Juneteenth edition of the popular From Slavery to Freedom Film Series with a screening of “American Coup: Wilmington 1898.”
Flag Folding Ceremony
Participate in a moving ceremony featuring the unfurling and folding of a giant 36-foot American flag in the Great Hall on June 26. Reflect upon the civic democracy and history that the flag represents while commemorating the adoption of the American flag on this date in 1777.
Independence Day Celebration
Step into the past and experience the roots of American history with a day full of festive fun at Meadowcroft’s 18th-century frontier trading post and 19th-century rural village.
Exhibitions
Pittsburgh’s Hidden History
Wander through a whimsical world of wonders inside the dynamic new exhibition, Pittsburgh’s Hidden History, featuring rarely seen objects that tell stories from Pittsburgh’s past like never before. View the banner Pittsburghers carried as they marched in Washington, DC, for equal rights, jobs, and freedom in 1963 and see objects that spark civic-minded conversations.
American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
Examine the bold experiment to create a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” in its dynamic online exhibition, American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith. Developed in partnership with the Smithsonian, the exhibit showcases the history of how we’ve voted, protested, and engaged with our politics, from the nation’s formation to today. The exhibit was on view at the History Center in 2021.
America 101
The History Center’s involvement in Civic Season and the Made By Us national coalition is an extension of its ongoing civics initiative, America 101, which engages the public to learn American history through public programs, special exhibitions, digital learning tools, and educational curriculum.
America 101 engages the public to learn American history through public programs, special exhibitions, digital learning tools, and educational curriculum.
America 101 is supported by Nimick Forbesway Foundation.