38th DC Historical Studies Conference Kicks Off this Weekend

Annual Letitia Woods Brown Lecture on the Civil War in Washington

The 38th Annual DC Historical Studies Conference kicks off this weekend with the Letitia Woods Brown Lecture, and a fascinating plenary discussion about a Digital History of the Civil War in Washington, DC. The Brown lecture is titled "Lincoln's Citadel: The Civil War in Washington, DC," and will be delivered by Professor Kenneth J. Winkle of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Civil War is not the only topic of discussion during the 150th Anniversary of the conflict, but it certainly is a major theme throughout the two-day conference schedule. 

The sesquicentennial of the Metropolitan Police Department will be highlighted in a panel discussion featuring department historian Lieutenant Nicholas T. Breul, with Martin Murray, and Sandra Schmidt and moderated by Bill Brown. A session on political collections in DC's archives will be moderated by Yvonne Carrigan, Head of Special Collections and Archives at George Mason University's Fenwick Library. The panel will include librarians and archivists from other area Universities as well as the DC Public Library Washingtoniana Division. Professionally guided history tours will be offered of Lafayette Square and major sites of Prohibition-Era Washington. 

Recent recipients of the Humanities Council and the DC Historic Preservation Office's DC Community Heritage Project Grant will form a panel exploring neighborhood history. Another DCCHP grantee, John Eaton Elementary School, will demonstrate their student-produced, web-based history project. Their session is rounded out by Lucinda Janke, Kesh Ladduwahetty, who produced a Humanities Council funded online exhibit on the Franklin School last year, and Kimberly Springle, Director of the Sumner School Museum and Archives and Humanities Council Board member. It is great to see so much of the great work produced by these dedicated local historians and scholars represented at the conference.

This overview by no means covers all of the sessions offered at this year's conference. With so many great speakers and new ideas, there is bound to be something of interest to just about anyone. Check the conference's blog for more details on the schedule and how to register for sessions.

Soul of the City Students Tour U Street, Analyze Connection Between Art and Identity

Art Criticism Workshop Conducted by Local Artist Khánh H. Lê and Tour Led By Expert Guide Judith Bauer

This past week, the 2011 Soul of the City students continued their exploration of Washington, DC as a place to make a home. They heard from local artist Khánh H. Lê whose family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam. Lê says his works reflect his ambiguous relation to both Vietnamese and American culture. "Identity" writes Lê, "is the central theme of my works, and I examine it through the bits and pieces of my personal memory and the collective history of the two cultures."

Judith Bauer, who led the students up and down U Street, is an experienced tour guide and expert on the history of the corridor, once the hub of African American culture in Washington, DC. Despite decades of architectural and demographic changes the neighborhood still visibly retains much of the history cultivated during a time when this bastion of black middle-class values flourished in the shadow of Howard University. This heritage can be seen in the surviving African American owned businesses, preserved buildings such as the Prince Hall Masonic Temple and the Bowen YMCA, and Cultural Tourism DC's well demarcated walking tour.

Below are a few students' reactions to the sessions as recorded in their daily journals...

Q. Smith on Lê's family's struggle to gain a foothold in the United States after immigrating from Vietnam to St. Louis, Missouri...

He is from Vietnam, but was raised in America. When he first came to the US, he had nothing. His family only had two thousand dollars to spend, and his father bought a car with it. Then he went to college to be a computer programmer, and shortly after he dropped out. He then received a scholarship to become an artist.

Nateeka Lee on Lê's emotional connection to his work...

Khánh does not like showing his parents his art creations because when he was young his father use to say he should never show his emotions. His father said, “If I hit you, don’t cry.” Plus, he said his creations are personal to him.

Diamond Bynum on the U Street Tour and the African American Civil War Museum...

Mrs. Bauer was a great tour guide. She taught me a lot of stuff about how U Street came to be what it is today. When we went to the museum, Mr. Frank Smith taught us the real history of how the slaves were freed and the how the Emancipation of 1863 came to be.

Kevin Chappell on self-emancipation and African American participation in the Civil War...

When we went to the museum, I did not know what I would learn. I thought I knew everything about how the slaves became free. When I watched the presentation, I learned that Abraham Lincoln did not really free the slaves, but they actually freed themselves.

Next week, Soul of the City moves downtown where they will meet Ward 4 City Councilmember Muriel Bowser at the John A. Wilson Building. They will also visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where they will explore RACE: Are We So Different, a new exhibition which opened on June 18th.