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.
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.
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.
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!
Emerging in D.C. in the early 1990s, the Riot Grrrl movement changed punk music, making space for young female musicians and ushering in a new wave of DIY activism. In reaction to the violence and sexism of the hardcore music scene, Riot Grrrl made way for a "girl-dominated" punk community, and though the movement was short lived, and arguably short sighted, its impact on punk music, let alone the D.C. scene, was massive.
Half a century after the Civil War, Southerners were trying to change what the country remembered about the rebellion, including the realities of slavery. One way that they did this was by putting up monuments all over the United States glorifying Confederate heroes and "faithful slaves." While dozens of memorials and statues were erected, one in Washington, D.C. fortunately never came to fruition.
