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.
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.
There’s a common saying (and belief) that Washington, D.C. was built on a swamp. While that’s not actually the case, it is true that the District’s rivers and tributaries—and the surrounding marshland—have caused some problems in the past.
In 1942, the USSR sends a young woman, its most effective sniper, to the United States as a member of its delegation to President Roosevelt's International Youth Assembly. But she has a second reason for her trip: to entreat the Allies to open a second front in Europe.
On March 22, 1968, Adrienne Manns, senior editor of Howard University’s official student newspaper, The Hilltop, summed up the lively scene on campus in a bold editorial:
A needless debate over honor in the House of Representatives sparked the only fatal duel between two congressmen in American history. The killing of Rep. Jonathan Cilley triggered outrage across America and anti-dueling legislation. But did it end the practice altogether?
Before Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard, there was Ham. America's first "astrochimp" rocketed into space and paved the way for the Moon landing before retiring to the National Zoo. His impact was undeniable but it also raised questions.
In September 1978, Jimmy Carter brokered a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, which has lasted over 40 years. Over nearly two weeks of tense negotiations, each side threatened to walk away from the table. But Carter used a combination of diplomacy and personal appeals to bring them back.
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