Posts about History
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Here’s how a DC newspaper covered traffic safety just before World War II
The defunct Washington Evening Star ran a series of punchy, illustrated columns called “Why Must They Die?” Keep reading…
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IN Capitol Hill or ON Capitol Hill? The high-stakes debate of our era.
Plenty of DC residents know someone who works on Capitol Hill — and in the context of Congress, the “on” isn’t in doubt. But when that person walks east to the nearby neighborhood of colorful rowhouses for a drink after work… are they spending the evening in Capitol Hill or on Capitol Hill? Keep reading…
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How can DC preserve history that’s more than a building?
DC’s historic preservation system is well set up to preserve historic buildings and properties, but ill prepared to formally recognize other types of history. A simple reform could go a long way to resolve that. Keep reading…
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How one house explains zoning in Montgomery County
The history of Montgomery County zoning can be told in one house. The story starts in the 1930s, a few years after Montgomery County adopted its first zoning ordinance. A developer named George Sacks began to build on a large tract of land he owned just south of downtown Bethesda. Keep reading…
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Four Black men developed a Montgomery County suburb to provide a better life for some in their community. They received something very different in return.
In 1906, four African American men attempted to develop an elite suburb for African Americans along Wisconsin Avenue between Chevy Chase and Friendship Heights, Maryland. Despite facing intense hostility from adjacent white landowners, at least 28 people bought lots. However, their vision was ultimately undone using subtler methods, showing how nominally race-blind tools can serve racist ends. Keep reading…
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Lyon’s legacy IV: White families’ homes
A century ago, Robert E. Lee defeated both George Washington and Pocahontas. The contest? A decision to rename the county today known as Arlington. Keep reading…
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Lyon’s legacy III: The Constitution and the raid
This is the third part of Lyon’s Legacy, a limited series. It tells in eight parts the history of how Black people, and other groups that experience racial or economic discrimination, have been excluded from living in Arlington County. On April 6, the story told who Frank Lyon was and what he found when he arrived in the county. This week, it will tell how he began to leave his mark. Keep reading…
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More than a half a century before Metro, the Washington Post proposed building a downtown subway
Talk of a subway in DC first appeared in the Washington Post way back in 1909. At the time, the idea was just to run a small loop between the Capitol building and the White House. Keep reading…
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Lyon’s legacy II: The backlash begins
Arlington County was once home to a community of former slaves so prosperous that tours were given to foreign dignitaries as evidence of America’s racial progress. Today, just about the only physical trace of Freedman’s Village is a plaque on a highway overpass. Some of the descendants of that community remain in Arlington today, but for others, exile has been made permanent. Keep reading…
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Lyon’s legacy: When Arlington was Black
Arlington is changing. The seal is changing too: a committee has been appointed to recommend a replacement to the image of Lee’s mansion. For us to make Arlington a county we can be proud of, we must understand how the racism in our past runs deeper than an image of a facade. For the new seal to be more than an empty symbol, we must use that understanding to build an antiracist future. Keep reading…