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Monuments and memorials

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Black History Sites in D.C. That Deserve More Attention

Black History Sites in D.C. That Deserve More Attention

08/07/2020 in DC by Karis Lee

Recently, Washington’s Black community has – rightfully – pushed for more memorials and markers honoring Black leaders and the city's rich African American heritage. While we wait for our city’s landscape to reflect more of its history, we highlight some existing sites that deserve more attention.

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DC
“Ground [the statues] into dust!” – The Downfall of Two District Memorials

“Ground [the statues] into dust!” – The Downfall of Two District Memorials

07/08/2020 in DC by Karis Lee

With the recent protests in response to the murder of George Floyd and the continued unearthing of our nation’s racist history, conversation regarding what history we set in stone is back at the forefront. In the District, memorial removals are extremely rare occurrences, but that doesn’t mean they have never happened before. In the late 1950s, two of the Capitol building’s most significant monuments were removed, despite the fact that a future president himself advocated for their installment: Horatio Greenough’s The Rescue and Luigi Persico’s Discovery of America. Largely due to public pressure, the statues were taken down during the building’s remodeling in 1958 and never re-erected.

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DC
The Buchanan Statue Debate: A Memorial Fifteen Years in the Making

The Buchanan Statue Debate: A Memorial Fifteen Years in the Making

03/30/2020 in DC by Karis Lee

Today, discussion regarding public monuments and which historical figures deserve to be memorialized is source of a heated debate among historians and the general public alike. But even a hundred years ago, D.C. lawmakers spent nearly fifteen years bickering over whether a certain someone’s likeness should or should not be set in stone.

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The Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial

The Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial

04/18/2018 in DC by Anne Hollmuller

To the average visitor, the Lincoln Memorial appears to be a timeless part of the National Mall. However, this classical commemoration to the sixteenth president was dedicated less than one hundred years ago, in the presence of Civil War veterans, Robert Todd Lincoln, two Presidents and a crowd of thousands. 

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DC

The Strange Rock of Georgetown: Colonel Ninian Beall

07/18/2013 in DC by Ariel Veroske

Known by some as the founder of Georgetown, Colonel Ninian Beall was quite an interesting fellow. With fierce red hair he stood 6 feet 7 inches tall and he lived almost 3 times longer than he should have. (The average life expectancy was 35 and he lived to be 92). What a champ.

Born in 1625 in Scotland, Beall spent the first 27 years of his life living out scenes from an adventure film. While fighting in the Scottish Army, Beall was taken prisoner at the Battle of Dunbar and landed in a London prison. Shortly after, he and 149 others were shipped to the island of Barbados in the West Indies to live as indentured servants. Doesn’t sound much like the Caribbean vacations we think of nowadays.

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Boundary Stones explores local history in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland and northern Virginia. This project is a service of WETA and is supported by contributions from readers like you.

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