The Civic Season

Participate in a moving Flag Day ceremony featuring the unfurling and folding of a giant 36-foot American flag in the Great Hall on June 14. Reflect upon the civic democracy and history that the flag represents while commemorating the adoption of the American flag on this date in 1777.

Bring your friends for conversation, happy hour drinks, and free pizza after regular museum hours! Join the History Center and more than 200 iconic museums across America to kick off the Fourth Annual Civic Season.

The History Center and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will welcome new U.S. citizens during a special Naturalization Ceremony on June 20. 

Join History Center President and CEO Andy Masich for an evening filled with delicious drinks and lesser-known stories about Western Pennsylvania’s impact on the French & Indian War and the American Revolution, as told in the History Center’s Wars of Empire and Liberty exhibition on June 20.

The African American Program will host a panel discussion to mark the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark decision in 1954 in which the U.S. Supreme Court deemed racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. Local teachers and students will discuss the impact in Pittsburgh and connections to this seminal moment for the Civil Rights Movement. 

Explore the art of uncovering women’s untold stories throughout history on June 30. The conversation will include authors Kimberly Hess and Eliza Smith Brown as they share their unique investigate processes for reclaiming the narratives of overlooked women in history.   

Celebrate the spirit of America with historical demonstrations and period games at Meadowcroft’s 18th-century frontier area and 19th-century village on July 4. 

Join the Fort Pitt Museum for its annual Fourth at the Fort event in Point State Park on July 4. At 1 p.m., Fort Pitt Museum staff, scouts, and local veterans will help kick off the Fourth of July holiday by raising a 36-foot American flag.  

Take an interactive, thematic journey through women’s history from the early 1800s to modern day inside our major new exhibition, A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh. Through more than 250 artifacts, immersive experiences, and striking archival images, A Woman’s Place reveals how women, including those who advocated for civic and social issues, have made Pittsburgh and the world a better place.   

Don’t miss the History Center’s Wars of Empire and Liberty exhibition, developed in partnership with the Museum of the American Revolution, before it closes on Monday, July 7. Featuring the work of nationally renowned historical artist Don Troiani, the exhibit includes over 25 stunning works of art and rare objects from the History Center’s collection. 

The History Center examines 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’s National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), 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.