As a laborer at the Smithsonian from 1882 until his death in 1918, Harrison Lomax served the Institution’s top leaders. A letter in our collections that he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley is an example of the ways in which African American employees advocated for themselves in order to earn promotions and raises. Harrison Lomax had already worked for the Smithsonian for 21 years when he wrote to Secretary Samuel P. Langley in 1903 to request a pay raise. Lomax, like most African Americ...
