Washington DC

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/24/2022
  

  Like Haiti, Washington DC Paid Reparations to Slave Owners

  by Gillian Brockell

  When the District abolished slavery, it compensated more than 900 former enslavers for the emancipation of more than 3,000 people. The formerly enslaved got nothing. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/19/2022
  

  The Unique Local and National Role of Washington's NAACP Chapter

  Derek Gray examined the growth of the capital city's NAACP chapter, the first in the nation to have Black leadership, and one with the unique responsibility to monitor legislation in Congress affecting civil rights and racial justice. 

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• SOURCE: Teen Vogue
  12/31/2021
  

  The DC Punk Scene Relied on the Local Latinx Community

  by Mike Amezcua

  "A big piece is missing from the stories told about punk and hardcore in the 1980s: Primarily, that marginalized spaces and communities in urban America gave a stage to the predominantly white subculture."

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• SOURCE: DCist
  12/30/2021
  

  Mosaic Theater Is Collecting H Street Residents’ Protest Stories And Turning Them Into Plays

  “We want to be a place where the stories of our community are uplifted and celebrated and given the spotlight — particularly because so many of those residents are African Americans who have seen so much change happen without their input,” says Reginald Douglas, Mosaic’s new artistic director.

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• SOURCE: Washingtonian
  11/10/2021
  

  What You Think You Know About DC's Metro Skipping Georgetown is Wrong

  by Luke Mullins

  Zachary Schrag, author of the definitive book on the DC Metro system, says that the legend of affluent community opposition in the 1960s is a just-so story that ignores the realities transit planners faced, but does jibe with city residents' sense of issues of race, power, and influence. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/6/2021
  

  What the Pandemic Has Stolen from Black America

  Longtime DC activist Howard Croft died from COVID complications in June 2020. His surviving relatives found a trove of papers and artifacts about civil rights struggles in the District and beyond, but feel the lack of his voice to explain what the pieces mean. 

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• SOURCE: Washingtonian
  6/3/2021
  

  This Map Shows How the New Deal Was a Big Deal for DC

  Historian Brent McKee presents a guide to sites around the greater Washington area that show how the New Deal transformed the region, from historic preservation to wastewater treatment. 

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• SOURCE: Mother Jones
  5/28/2021
  

  Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Long, Lonely Fight to Gain DC Voting Rights

  Eleanor Holmes Norton has always advocated for DC statehood and full representation in Congress, but today places a higher priority on comprehensive voting rights legislation. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  

  D.C. Police Recruits are Learning about Black History, Go-Go Music and Half-Smokes. Leaders Think it Will Make Them Better Officers

  DC leaders are concerned that new police recruits are disconnected from the history and culture of Black communities in the District. Will history lessons help? 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  5/5/2021
  

  Thirty Years after Mount Pleasant Erupted, a Push for Better Treatment Persists

  by Mike Amezcua

  Central American refugees living in Washington's Mount Pleasant neighborhood had fled US-backed repression but found harsh treatment by immigration authorities and local police. In 1991 frustration erupted. Today, the unrest still raises questions about citizenship and belonging. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/14/2021
  

  How White Fears of ‘Negro Domination’ Kept D.C. Disenfranchised for Decades

  George Derek Musgrove and Chris Myers-Asch, authors of "Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital" have recently written a report for a nonprofit advocating DC statehood. They argue that Congressional efforts to disempower DC residents after 1871 have reflected White fears of Black political power. 

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• SOURCE: Profs and Pints
  4/13/2021
  

  Register for Profs and Pints with Denver Brunsman: The 1814 Burning of Washington

  Historian Denver Brunsman will join the Profs and Pints series of (virtual) discussions to talk about the British attack on Washington in 1814 and its impact on American nationalism and the local urban boosters of the capital city. 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  3/5/2021
  

  How Black Women Brought Liberty to Washington in the 1800s

  by Karin Wulf

  Karin Wulf discusses Tamika Nunley's book on Black women in the nation's capital with the author. 

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• SOURCE: Washingtonian
  2/22/2021
  

  Black Broadway in DC: A New Book Explores the Undeniable Influence of U Street’s History

  Briana Thomas's "Black Broadway in Washington, DC" examines the city's U Street, which was not just a daily fixture of Black life in the District, but a connector of Black America's aspirations in politics, education and business. 

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• 2/14/2021
  

  A Lesson Unity and Renewal: George Washington and the Building of the Capital City

  by Robert P. Watson

  The decision to create a national capital city and the execution of the plan was an underappreciated legacy of George Washington's leadership and a key force uniting a fragile new nation. 

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• SOURCE: The Metropole
  2/2/2021
  

  African Americans At St. Elizabeth’s — A Review Of Madness In The City Of Magnificent Expectations

  Martin Summers' book on Washington's Saint Elizabeth's Hospital shows how early mental health institutions differentiated the Black and White psyches in diagnosis and care, exposing the role of psychiatry in maintaining and institutionalizing racial inequality, writes reviewer Debra Kram-Fernandez.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/2/2020
  

  D.C. Man Fights to Educate Americans on the Importance of Voting

  “No matter what position you have, in a democracy if you don’t have the right to have your voice heard, you cannot really be considered a full citizen,” Phil Portlock said.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/25/2020
  

  A Virginia State Senator Found Headstones on His Property. It Brought to Light a Historic Injustice in D.C.

  Columbian Harmony is among at least five major African American cemeteries in D.C. that were obliterated in the past century for the sake of development.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/1/2020
  

  D.C. Statehood Is Good for the Democrats, Good for Democracy

  by George Derek Musgrove and Chris Myers Asch

  DC statehood will secure the citizenship rights of the city's residents and begin to repair the crisis of legitimacy caused by the gross imbalance of political representation in the U.S. Senate. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/13/2020
  

  Eisenhower Memorial, Delayed by Design Disputes, Opens This Week

  The opening of the Eisenhower monument in 2020 may make many mindful of the contrast between Ike and the current head of the Republican Party, although the memorial's design has already sparked a bitter battle that fits the temper of our times.