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20th century

DC
"Say your say, do your thing, stand up and be counted": The First National Black Deaf Advocates Conference

"Say your say, do your thing, stand up and be counted": The First National Black Deaf Advocates Conference

11/04/2022 in DC by Emma O'Neill-Dietel

In June 1981, Black Deaf leaders gathered in Washington to sew the seeds of an organization that would have a profound impact on the Black Deaf community. After centuries of exclusion in both Black and Deaf spaces, organizers came together to make a space of their own. With goals to educate, empower, and strengthen the community, this conference led a call for Black inclusion and leadership in Deaf organizations locally and nationally.

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DC
When the Willard Hotel served as the White House

When the Willard Hotel served as the White House

01/05/2022 in DC by Arielle Gordon

For the first weeks of his presidency, Calvin Coolidge conducted business from a different iconic D.C. residence — the Willard Hotel. The Coolidges lived at the hotel while he was Vice President and they waited to move to the White House until Warren Harding’s family had time to move out after he died in office.

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DC
The First Sting: Did a New Tactic by D.C. Police Ensnare Criminals or Entice Crime?

The First Sting: Did a New Tactic by D.C. Police Ensnare Criminals or Entice Crime?

07/08/2021 in DC by Ben Miller

In 1976 D.C. police dressed as cartoon Mafiosos and bought millions in stolen goods from local thieves. They called it "Operation Sting," and soon police across the country were launching "sting operations" of their own. But not everyone was so enamored with the tactic, especially the communities it was being used to target.

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DC
Cicadas: Time Traveling Trouble Makers

Cicadas: Time Traveling Trouble Makers

05/03/2021 in DC by Michael Kohler

Every seventeen years, the Brood X cicadas create a buzz in the treetops and in the press. The story of the time traveling insects tells an interesting tale of how much changes in the world over their hibernation period and how much doesn't at all.

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DC
The Man in the Green Hat: Congress' Bootlegger During Prohibition

The Man in the Green Hat: Congress' Bootlegger During Prohibition

12/04/2020 in DC by Arielle Gordon

From 1920 to 1930, George Cassiday was a bootlegger for Congress. He sold alcohol to four out of every five members during Prohibition, and at one point had an office inside the House Office Building. After his arrest for possessing alcohol, Cassiday told his story in The Washington Post.

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Maryland
The Centuries-Long Saga of the ‘Oyster Wars’

The Centuries-Long Saga of the ‘Oyster Wars’

11/18/2020 in Maryland by Arielle Gordon

The battle lasted about half an hour, and when the smoke cleared, Captain Frank Whitehurst lay dead in a pool of his own blood on the deck of the Albert Nickel, a Baltimore oyster schooner. While Whitehurst met a fate avoided by most, the so called “Oyster Wars” had been brewing for more than 100 years prior to that fateful night on the Severn River.

For nearly two centuries, Maryland and Virginia were engaged in conflict over one of the region’s valuable resources — oysters. Full of inconsistent enforcement and rampant law-breaking, it took the president’s signature to end the Oyster Wars.

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Virginia
"The Shot That Was Felt Around the World": McLean's Polio Pioneers

"The Shot That Was Felt Around the World": McLean's Polio Pioneers

10/21/2020 in Virginia by Arielle Gordon

April 26, 1954, wasn’t an ordinary day at work for Dr. Richard Mulvaney. As McLean, Virginia’s first general practitioner, he treated all types of patients, but he’d never dealt with a situation like the one that awaited him at Franklin Sherman Elementary School that morning.

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DC
Fowl Play in Washington: the City’s History of Chicken Thievery

Fowl Play in Washington: the City’s History of Chicken Thievery

05/15/2020 in DC by Karis Lee

Washington has seen its fair share of crimes: mafia operations, drug networks, triple murder… But in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, one of the city’s most pervasive crimes was one we today might find difficult to imagine: chicken thievery. In today’s urban landscape, the phenomenon may seem difficult to imagine; but 150 years ago chicken robbery was widespread -- and serious business. The practice was dangerous and, at times, even fatal.

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DC
Women at War: The Navy's First African American Yeomanettes

Women at War: The Navy's First African American Yeomanettes

08/07/2018 in DC by Shaune Lee

As the United States entered World War I, women became a vital part of the war effort. The Navy created a single unit of African-American Yeomanettes, which was assigned to Washington D.C.'s Navy Yard, and quickly made an impression.

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Virginia
"More Tons, Less Huns": World War I Shipbuilding in Alexandria

"More Tons, Less Huns": World War I Shipbuilding in Alexandria

12/23/2016 in Virginia by Lila Spitz

World War I fueled a rapid buildup in industrial production and, in particular, merchant shipbuilding. America needed cargo vessels—fast—and, as luck would have it, Alexandria was prepared. Between 1910 and 1912, the Army Corps of Engineers had infilled a 46-acre bay and wildlife preserve – Battery Cove – near Jones Point Lighthouse. The land’s proximity to the Potomac River and its enormous size made it an ideal site for shipbuilding. Alexandrians rejoiced when the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation came to their city but the enthusiasm would not last.

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