In the 1890s, Frances Benjamin Johnston opened a photography studio on V St., NW, in Washington, DC. Defying gender norms, she established herself as a White House portrait photographer, a photo journalist, and historic preservationist. By the end of her life, some called her "the greatest woman photographer in the world," but her most well-known work gained attention decades after her death.
Northwest D.C.'s Dunbar High School transcended humble beginnings in the basement of a church to become, as W.E.B. DuBois' The Crisis put it, the "greatest negro high school in the world." Its commitment to black academic excellence made it the alma mater of many prominent African Americans.
Hercules Posey is considered one of America's first celebrity chefs. He was enslaved to George Washington during his presidency but ultimately able to make his escape. The details of his story haven't always been so clear though.
WWE is globally recognized as a juggernaut in sports and entertainment. However, not many know of the colorful, and often violent, history behind the one of the company's first arenas, Turner's Arena, formerly located at the corner of 14th and W St NW.
"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes!" Who is the mysterious man who visits Edgar Allan Poe's grave to leave a yearly offering of roses and cognac to the poet Baltimore claims as its own?
During the Great Depression, the Federal Writers Project commissioned several initiatives designed to aid thousands of struggling American writers and journalists. But perhaps their most interesting project is also one of their most important: a collection of oral histories known as the “Slave Narratives Project.” And within that collection, one narrative in particular stands out: the story of Rezin Williams.
No doubt D.C. music fans were intrigued when they picked up the Washington City Paper on September 23, 1983: "Funk funk funk funk it up at the pick of the picks tonite…a combination of punk and funk that should be the hottest show of the summer." For the first time, Trouble Funk and Minor Threat would be performing together. The show melded D.C.'s dominant homegrown music styles, Go-go and Hardcore Punk, and promised to be a concert like no other.
Weeks after the bloodiest day of the American Civil War, a remarkably preserved human arm was allegedly discovered near the Antietam Battlefield. After several decades and a series of owners, the arm was anonymously donated to a Frederick, Maryland museum. The identity of the person who lost the arm remains a mystery, but cutting edge research into the arm has a lot to say about the experience of Civil War soldiers.
In the mid 1830s, Washington stood on edge as pro and anti-slavery forces battled for influence. Conditions were ripe for D.C.’s first race riot, which erupted in August 1835 when a lynch mob targeted Beverly Snow, a successful free black restaurateur.
As a former enslaved person, Thomas Smallwood knew what it was like to live as someone else's property. That inspired him to spend most of his life freeing hundreds of people from slavery — and mocking their former owners while he was at it.
You may have heard that Martin Van Buren once fought Congress tooth and nail to keep a pair of baby tigers he received as a gift. That story may be untrue, but the real-life events are a zoo in itself: with lions, horses, and diplomatic misadventures!
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