Interim Director's Note

Dear Residents, Neighbors, and Friends,

Ninety-six years ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a historian, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, declared the second week of February as Negro History Month. He chose the month of February because it encompassed the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It would be another 50 years before President Gerald Ford recognized a month-long celebration of Black history in 1976. President Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

I, too, want to encourage residents and visitors in the District to research and share the amazing accomplishments Black residents have made in the city and across the nation. Some of D.C.’s firsts were accomplished by Charlotte Ray, the first Black female lawyer in the United States, and Benjamin Oliver Davis, the first African American general in the U.S. Army. In music, we have artists like Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, and the “Godfather of Go-Go”, Chuck Brown. In Hollywood, we have award-winning actors Taraji P. Henson and Samuel L. Jackson, who were both born in the District. Activists such as Nannie Helen Burroughs, Frederick Douglass, Carter G. Woodson, Dorothy Height, and Mary McCleod Bethune also once called the city home. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is a D.C. native who has broken several gender and racial barriers.

The District had a special role in the civil rights movement, of course.
Did you know that the first known sit-ins to protest racial segregation in American history occurred in D.C?

In April 1943, a group of Black students at Howard University, a Historically Black College and University, challenged segregation at the Little Palace Cafeteria, on 14th and U Street. The sit-in was led by Pauli Murray, an American civil rights activist. Though, the police were called, the students were not arrested because they were not being rowdy or breaking any laws. The students continued picketing and performing sit-ins for five days until the restaurant’s owner began serving Black customers. The event gained very little media attention at the time, and still receives little recognition within Civil Rights Movement history. The efforts of these young students speak to the power, resilience, and courage of Black women, who have and continue to serve on the front-line in the fight for equality. You can learn more about these extraordinary women here.

Through their efforts and others, like Mary Church Terrell (who you can learn about in our new Human Rights Liaison Training 2.0), racial segregation in public accommodations in Washington, D.C. came to an end in the 1950s. The Office of Human Rights continues to build upon their efforts. Today, as society and advances in society evolve, so must our laws. In September 2021, the District expanded the definition of Places of Public Accommodation by including online entities in prohibiting discrimination.

In closing, Black History is American history. It is important that we recognize, cherish, appreciate and acknowledge this. As Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without knowledge of their past, history, origin, and culture, is like a tree without roots.”

Sincerely,