Inaugural Black German Cultural Society, Inc. Convention Announced

Propose a Topic of Conversation, Present a Panel, or Attend and Learn

Don't miss this great opportunity to discuss the international dimensions of race and culture. The following is from the website of the Black German Cultural Society, Inc.

The Black German Cultural Society, Inc. is excited to announce its First Annual Convention to be held from August 19 to 21, 2011, at the German Historical Institute (GHI) in Washington, DC. With the theme of “Strengthening Transatlantic Connections,” the convention will host guests and presenters from our international community in Germany and the United States.

Our keynote speaker will be Noah Sow, the acclaimed journalist, musician, producer and author of “Deutschland Schwarz Weiß” (C. Bertelsmann, 2008), who will speak about “Geteilte Geschichte: The Black Experience in Germany and the US.”

In cooperation with the Humanities Council of Washington, DC, the convention will also feature an award ceremony for Hans J. Massaquoi, who will be given the “Champion of the Humanities Award” in honor of his lifetime achievements as an author, journalist, and cultural ambassador.

Additionally, the convention will feature a photo exhibit on "The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany," and "Homestory Deutschland: Gelebt - Erlebte Schwarze Deutsche Geschichte(n)."

Furthermore, the meeting will offer workshops, round tables, as well as panel discussions on Afro-German history, culture and literature facilitated by our board members, partner organizations, and distinguished academics in the field.

Confirmed participants include, among others:

Vera Grant (W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University)

S. Marina Jones (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

Maria Hoehn (Vassar College)

Leroy Hopkins (Millersville University)

Martin Klimke (GHI Washington)

Priscilla Layne (University of California, Berkeley)

Yara-Colette Lemke Muniz de Faria (Berlin)

Sara Lennox (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

Amilcar Shabazz (University of Massachussets, Amherst)

William Strickland (University of Massachussets, Amherst)

Topics will include “Race and Ethnicity in Postwar Germany,” “Transatlantic Adoption and ‘Brown Babies’,” “Finding and Reuniting Birth Families,” “Black German Jewishness” as well as “Sharing our Stories,” among others.

We would, however, also like to give participants the opportunity to present during one of our panel discussions, facilitate a workshop, or contribute to the convention in other ways. Please inform us of your interest, ideas, and potential topics.

DC Community Heritage Project Symposium 2011

7th Annual Symposium to Highlight the Work of Former Grantees and Introduce New Digital History Techniques

The Humanities Council of Washington DC's annual Summer DC Community Heritage Project Symposium will be held Tuesday, June 28, from 6-8:30PM. The event will take place at the Deanwood Recreation Center and Library just across the street from the Deanwood Metro Station. This year's symposium is all about “making connections.” Each of the three sessions will explore opportunities for local history buffs to connect with each other and connect with the past.

The first session will introduce the local cemetery as an historical text. Conspicuous on the city-scape, yet secretive with their stories, cemeteries are often overlooked as a community history resources. Anne Brockett of the DC Historic Preservation Office and Tyrone General of the Historic Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Foundation will discuss how cemeteries can be coaxed into revealing the hidden heritage of a neighborhood, and the unknown stories of the deceased.

The second session will demonstrate a project that seeks to identify “neighborhood griots.” A griot is a person whose memory serves as a repository for a community's stories. Nearly every neighborhood has at least a few people who can draw on historical information passed down from generations, to enlighten, enrich, and educate those willing to listen. Historian Carrie Thornhill will discuss her efforts to identify neighborhood griots, and how her project can be replicated in other communities.

The third session will showcase software designed to help historians research, as well as organize and disseminate their findings. Sharon Leon of the George Mason University Center for History and New Media will discuss the growing field of digital history and will demonstrate some of the Center's valuable tools.

RSVP today for this FREE opportunity to learn how you can make connections with unorthodox historical texts, with others interested in community history, and with the living past! Register by visiting http://dcchpsymposium2011.eventbrite.com/, calling 202-387-8391, or emailing programs@wdchumanities.org.

DCCHP Grant Awardees Poised to Spread the Word About Neighborhood History

The Grantees Were Honored Last Night at the John A. Wilson Building

This year the following organizations will receive funding for projects aimed at preserving and disseminating the history and culture of Washington, DC neighborhoods:

• John Eaton Elementary School Home School Association - for their project "John Eaton Elementary School Website." 

Jenny Dieterle (left) accepts the award on behalf of the
John Eaton Elementary School Home School Association
from Humanities Council Board Chair, Marianne Scott. 

• Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington - for their project "Exterior and Interior Graphic Panels and Video about Historic Adas Israel Synagogue." 
• Friends of Peirce Mill - for their project "Panel Exhibition on the Re-Opening of Peirce Mill." 
• Alliance for Global Justice  (Empower DC) - for their project "Ivy City History Project Film." 
• Women of the Dove Foundation - for their project "Profiles of the Trailblazers: a Digital Documentary." 
• Split This Rock - for their project "DC Authors Houses: A Web Exhibit." 
• The Exposure Group African American Photography Association, Inc. - for their project "FotoCraft Camera Club: More than Seven Decades of Photography in the Nation's Capital." 
• Public Communications, Inc. - for their project "Voices on 14th Street: Columbia Heights in the Sixties An Oral History Project." 
• African American Holiday Association - for their project "African American Pioneer Muslimahs in Washington, DC." 
• Columbia Heights Youth Club - for their project "Living Images in my World: A History Beneath US-Forgotten Sacred Ground Across the River Creek." 
• Multi-Media Training Institute - for their project "Preserving LeDroit Park: A Historic Community in Washington, DC." 
• Historic Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association - for their project "Historic Woodlawn Cemetery Records Conversion Project." 

Tyrone General of the Woodlawn Cemetery
Perpetual Care Association with Scott

• Anacostia Bicyclist Association - for their project "Anacostia Heritage Ride." 
• Deanwood Heights Main Streets - for their project "Third Annual Historic Church Tour of Deanwood." 
• The Institute of Caribbean Studies - for their project "The Museum of the Caribbean Diaspora: A Digital Repository." 
• Capitol Hill Arts Workshop - for their project "Uncovering Capitol Hill History Through Stories of the Capitol Hill Art Workshop." 
• The Essential Theatre - for their project "My Neighborhood in 1955." 
• International Artists Support Group - for their project "Washington Color School Project." 

This year's class of grantee organizations is ready to produce a diverse collection of educational materials of city-wide interest and importance. Thank you to all who applied!

Funds for the DC Community Heritage Project are provided by a partnership of the Humanities Council of Washington, DC and the DC Historic Preservation Office, which supports people who want to tell stories of their neighborhoods and communities by providing information, training and financial resources. This DC Community Heritage Project has also been funded in part by the US Department of the Interior, the National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund grant funds, administered by the DC Historic Preservation Office and by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Human vs. Machine - History Theatre Version

Is a Human or a Robot More Suited to Teach Us About the Past?

Frederick Douglass' life is regularly taught to school children through living history theater. In 2008, THEARC DC received a grant from the Humanities Council to carry on this tradition in a whole new way; their performance made use of a life-sized animatronic Douglass. In 1992, the Humanities Council supported a living history performance in which Frederick Douglass was portrayed by actor and educator Fred Morsell. Morsell was able to teach the students about Douglass' life before getting into character, and was able to resolve the performance as himself at the end. Check out the footage from both events to compare and contrast. Which is the better method of teaching about Douglass' life? Is there room for both animatronic and flesh-and-blood human living history performances? What are the benefits and challenges associated with either method.

Animatronic Performance at THEARC DC

Morsell's Performance at Orr Elementary

Art All Night: Nuit Blanche DC Launches This Week

Don't Miss This Opportunity to Visit the Embassy of France

U Street Businesses Old and New Honored

Video of the Discussion is Available on HCTV

Last week, on May 18th, the Humanities Council organized its first Washington, DC Great Streets event. The program honors historic businesses along Washington's storied commercial corridors and newcomers adding their own unique contributions. The inaugural event was called Celebrating U Street, and Nizam Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl, Richard Lee of Lee's Flower and Card Shop, and Suman Sorg of Sorg Architects comprised the panel of honorees. The group discussed the changes that have taken place along the U Street corridor in recent years, and reflected on old memories. The discussion was moderated by author Blair E. Ruble, whose recent book, Washington's U Street: a Biography, explores the impact of change and population movement with an approachable, biographical style.

Dr. Ruble confessed that his impetus for writing the book came from grating discussions with people from outside the Washington area who persistently referred to the capital as “not a real city.” Ruble's historical research and interviews with longtime residents clearly disprove this myth, and his work is replicable for most of Washington's neighborhoods, many of which rival the greater U Street area in the depth and richness of their collective memory and culture. 

Both Lee and Ali recalled a U Street that was very much a village in a small southern town. The families who owned businesses in the area were often interconnected, and they interacted with the public on a very personal level. The Industrial Bank, like Ben's and Lee's has been a fixture in the community for many years. Nizam's mother, a teller at the bank, met her husband in the area before they founded their now-iconic restaurant, and Richard Lee fondly recalled Ms. Ali allowing him to come to the front of the line as a small boy making deposits for his parents' shop. While the area has seen much change, both good and bad, Lee believes that the new residents' interest in attending community events has kept some of the close-knit character of the neighborhood intact. Sorg believes that the area would benefit from urban improvements that would encourage more foot traffic and more individual interactions between neighbors. Her firm is also responsible for many of the architectural preservation projects in the area.

The discussion and presentation of awards can be viewed on HCTV, the Humanities Council's Youtube Channel. The well-preserved culture of DC's neighborhoods, coupled with its residents long-term collective memory seem to suggest that the Humanities Council will have no trouble continuing the Washington, DC Great Streets program along other major commercial corridors across the city. Does your neighborhood have an eclectic mix of businesses, both new and old, along its great streets? Mt. Pleasant, MLK, Georgia Ave, M Street, 12th Street NE, Minnesota Ave. Let us know where we should hold the next discussion!

Post Article Examines New Stone Carving on the Mall

For Stone Carvers, Their Profession is Their Tradition

During the late 1980s, the Humanities Council funded a documentary film project on the dedicated craftsmen who carved the hundreds of gargoyles, statues, and architectural embellishments adorning the National Cathedral. The film called The Stone Carvers was produced by Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner, and is available at a number of local libraries. Because stone carving is such a high-skill profession, requiring years to master, the expertise is usually passed down from parent to child. This was certainly the case for many of the carvers featured in Hunt and Wagner's documentary, but, according to a recent Washington Post article it holds true for the craftsmen steadily chipping away at the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial scheduled to open this Summer.

According to writer Brett Zonger, at least one of the carvers working on the MLK memorial is continuing in the tradition of his father and grandfather. Though Nicholas Benson and his ancestors did not work on the National Cathedral, it is fair to say that they, more than most, have literally carved Washington. Benson's grandfather carved portions of the Iwo Jima Memorial just across the Potomac in Arlington, his father worked on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and Benson carved inscriptions on the World War II Memorial.

Benson relishes the opportunity to leave his mark on history, and seems to have gained a deep, personal connection with the words of Dr. King. The total number of letters comprising the inscriptions is 2,085, and each one takes Benson an hour to complete, so it stands to reason that he and his colleagues will have had plenty of time to carefully reflect on these memorable quotations by the time they complete the project.

Some of the carvers in Hunt and Wagner's documentary confessed that they viewed their profession as one on the verge of extinction. Mechanization and changing architectural styles have decreased the need for hand carved pieces. But on the Mall in Washington, as long as there are heroes to immortalize, and histories to transform into legends, it seems there will be a place for the artisan mason – master carvers.

Check out the Post article for more on Benson and his work on the MLK Memorial.