DC History Center

📸 Ephemera relating to Jesse Jackson's 1990 Senate campaign and to DC Statehood. Includes campaign buttons, bumper stickers, flyers, brochures, and original campaign artwork, c. 1988-1990 (General Ephemera Collection, E 1881)

Jackson’s legacy continues to inspire those fighting for equality, inclusion, and the full recognition of DC’s voice in our democracy.

#JesseJackson #Statehood #DCStatehood

His outspoken case for DC statehood underscored the basic principle that residents of the nation’s capital deserve the same rights and representation as every other American.

Jackson’s tenure energized local advocacy and brought national attention to DC’s long struggle for equal voting rights in Congress. He stood with residents across the city and worked alongside leaders committed to justice and democracy.

He served as DC’s elected shadow senator in the 1990s, a locally created position aimed at strengthening the push for full self-governance and statehood.

The impact Rev. Jesse Jackson (1941-2026) had in Washington, DC went far beyond national civil rights leadership, he was deeply connected to the city and its fight for representation.

Heurich House members in front of the Carnegie Library at dusk

Members inside exhibit space, standing in front of a chalkboard that reads "Class Action" with a map of DC. The wall behind the chalkboard is fully covered by a class photo.

Crossover episode!
Heurich House members got a tour of @dchistorycenter.bsky.social at the Carnegie Library last month, which included a look at their “Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital” exhibit.
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📸 President Lincoln's first inauguration; east front of the Capitol, March 4, 1861 (General Photograph Collection, CHS 01711)

So while the war raged from 1861 to 1865, ironworkers kept lifting plates into place above Washington. The Statue of Freedom was set atop the dome in December 1863 in the middle of the Civil War.

Some questioned whether work should stop during wartime. Lincoln insisted it continue. To abandon the project, he believed, would signal that the Union itself was failing.

At the time of the inauguration, the Capitol’s dome was still under construction, part of a major expansion that began in the 1850s as the country grew.

By Inauguration Day, 7 southern states had already seceded. Just over a month later, on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, marking the start of the Civil War (1861–1865). The war would continue until April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered.

Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office at the United States Capitol with scaffolding and an unfinished dome rising behind him on March 4, 1861.

📸 Inez Milholland riding a white horse riding in the Woman Suffrage Parade on March 3, 1913, the day before President Wilson's inauguration (Kiplinger Washington Collection, KC1276E.PC.AC.S.U.)

Despite facing hostility from crowds and challenges on the streets, their courage captured nationwide attention and helped re-energize the movement for the 19th Amendment, which would finally enfranchise women seven years later.

#WomensHistory #WomensHistoryMonth

Led by suffrage leaders like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, and headed by Inez Milholland on horseback, these determined marchers demanded full voting rights and a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that right to all citizens, regardless of sex.

On this day in 1913 more than 5,000 women from across the United States marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in DC, in one of the earliest and most powerful demonstrations for women’s suffrage in the nation’s capital.

Upcoming Programs The DC History Center’s public programs include book talks, lectures, walking tours, film screenings, presentations, and more.

Both events celebrate the power of collective action—just like the history on display in Class Action. Learn more + RSVP: dchistory.org/events/

...from historian Tikia K. Hamilton about her new book “Nothing Less Than Equality: The Battle over Segregated Education in the Nation’s Capital.”

📚 Book Talk: Nothing Less Than Equality
🗓 Tuesday, March 31 | 6:00–7:30 pm
Dive into the fight for justice and equal rights in DC schools and neighborhoods, and hear how individuals and movements shaped educational equity with a lecture...

🎬 Documentary Screening: Kindred Spirits
🗓 Saturday, March 14 | 2:30-4:00
Discover the inspiring story of two DC artists and their impact on arts education, followed by a discussion connecting creativity to community action.

Explore DC’s history of community action and equity! Our “Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital” exhibit comes alive with two special events this March:

📸 Program, "The Bicentennial Era 1972-1976." Split into two sections, "The Tory's Program" and "The Patriot's Program." (Anthony Sarmiento Papers, MS 0989)

Off the Shelf: The People's Bicentennial A populist democracy activism movement by the people, of the people, and for the people returned to ideals of the American Revolution.

Read “Off the Shelf: The People’s Bicentennial” by our Senior Manager of Collections Autumn Kalkin: dchistory.org/news-and-ins...

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the People’s Bicentennial invites us to ask: What does it really mean to “recapture our revolutionary heritage”?

These materials are part of the newly processed Anthony Sarmiento papers and are now available:
📂 Digitally via our online collections platform
📖 In person at the Kiplinger Research Library (by appointment)

Through publications, street theater, radio, curriculum, and local action, they urged Americans, especially students, to see history as alive, unfinished, and grounded in community experience.

Founded in the early 1970s as a counterpoint to the official Bicentennial, the PBC challenged corporate nationalism and called for a patriotism rooted in democracy, equity, and economic justice.

Reclaiming the Revolution: The People’s Bicentennial 🇺🇸📜✊

Recently processed materials from the People’s Bicentennial Commission (PBC) offer a powerful reminder that the American Revolution has always been contested and continually reinterpreted.

📸 Sam Lewis rehouses delicate books in the Kiplinger Research Library. The titles remain available for researchers to examine in the library but are now better protected in storage than they had been on browsable shelves.
📸 Fragile and Very Fragile volumes rehoused.

Photos by Anne McDonough.