Department stores, in addition to offering products and merchandise, excited customers because they created an environment of abundance, ease, and luxury that they might not have had access to beyond the store. Many shoppers ventured downtown to…

The Hecht family, immigrating from Germany to the United States in the 1860s, found immediate success in the retail industry. The first family member, Simeon Hecht, arrived in Baltimore to open a furniture store in the city, and after his initial…

As DC’s urban landscape grew to accommodate its growing population, so did its young population of school-aged children. While schoolhouses existed throughout the city for these children, they were majorly insufficient for the sharp increase in…

Nannie Helen Burroughs, a leader in advocating for African American women’s education and a civil rights activist, combined her education and leadership roles in the National Baptist Convention with her organizing skills to create what would become…

For Mary McLeod Bethune’s 99th birthday, the National Council of Negro Women commissioned and raised funds for a memorial dedicated to the activist. Designed by Robert Berks, the memorial in Lincoln Park features Bethune with a cane in her right…

Designed by William D. Nixon, a self-taught African American architect who was also a social and civil rights activist in DC, this private residence is a notable Art Deco style building in the Palisades neighborhood. The home is significant for both…

Established in 1945 by mariner Lewis Thomas Green, the Seafarers Yacht Club became one of the first community spaces for black boaters in Washington, DC. Green began building his own boats around the late 1930s to early 1940s, in addition to his…

Built by DC’s Alley Dwelling Authority in 1942-1943, Barry Farm is historically significant as a center of Black activism in the 1960s. Named for original owner James Barry, a Washington city merchant and councilman who purchased the land in the…

The Washington Yacht Club (WYC) was founded in 1910 by a group of white Washingtonian boaters, looking to establish affordable facilities along the Anacostia River in proximity to their homes on the east side of the river. Unlike some extant clubs,…

The Kingman Park Historic District, located at the northeastern end of today’s Capitol Hill, was principally developed during the late 1920s through 1940s as a residential neighborhood for African Americans. The district was part of a larger area…