DC Community Heritage Project Showcase on December 8th

Grantees Will Display New Contributions to Local History and Culture

In June, the Humanities Council awarded 18 DC Community Heritage Project grants to an outstanding group of organizations which worked throughout the Summer to produce a diverse collection of projects that document the history and culture of Washington, DC's neighborhoods and landmarks. The groups produced brochures, oral histories, documentary films, exhibits, and other materials and are now distributing them to the public. Each will be cataloged and digitized for the Humanities Council's DC Digital Museum, but hard copies of many of the projects will be available throughout the city.

E.B. Henderson and History of
Black Basketball in DC Brochure

The Capitol View Civic Association, and the Congress Heights Community Association each produced brochures on the history and heritage of their neighborhoods. The documents combine interviews with long-time residents, and archival research to tell the story of these two unique and ever-changing communities. Both brochures are available through the DC Digital Museum, and will be distributed on a large scale in hard copy. The Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association created three large banners that will be exhibited throughout the city. The displays are meant to draw attention to the historic Southeast cemetery, and the notable historic figures buried there. The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation received a grant to support The Emergence and Legacy of African American Basketball National Conference. The conference, held on November 12-13, introduced young people to Washington, DC's rich African-American basketball lineage. In 1904, Dr. E.B. Henderson, the “Godfather of Black Basketball,” returned to the District from physical education training at Harvard and introduced the relatively new sport to Washington's African-American youth. Eventually, his team, which played at the 12th Street YMCA, became the foundation for Howard University's varsity squad. The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation produced a full color brochure for the conference which will be available in the DC Digital Museum catalog.

Capitol View Project Participants
Interviewed at the Humanities Council
Office

All of the 2010 DCCHP grantees will be recognized at a special showcase held at the Tifereth Israel Congregation in Northwest on December 8th. The Council produced three videos, each combining a collection of grantee interviews or documentary clips that will describe the grantee projects and explain how they were developed. These videos will be shown at the Grantee Showcase, and each organization will have the opportunity to set up a display, to further explain their projects to the attendees. The DCCHP Grantee Showcase is a free, public event. Click here to register.

DCCHP project sponsors and partners include: the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service Office of Historic Preservation, the D.C. Office of Planning and Historic Preservation, the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, DC Historic Preservation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.