On October 21, 2021, Carmen Torruella-Quander, Ana Ndumu, Angeley Crawford Gibb, and Rosalyn Lake-Montero discussed what it means to identify as a Black, immigrant, Spanish-speaking woman in Washington, DC. The panelists explored this challenging question of identity, language, and immigration as well as the history of Latinas in the DC area through reflections on their own and their community's experiences. The DC History Center co-produced "See Our Latinidad, See Out Blackness" with Manuel Mendez, Chair of the DC AfroLatino Caucus.
On June 16, 2021, the DC History Center invited long-time DC statehood activists Anise Jenkins and Samuel Jordan to join Ty Hobson-Powell, a young activist, to discuss the movement for DC statehood: its roots, new and continuing stakes, and how statehood activism is adapting to the current political climate. Cosby Hunt, local history teacher and director of programming for the Center for Inspired Teaching, joined the discussion as moderator.
On July 16, 2020, the DC History Center presented “Is Statehood Possible?” an online conversation between historian George Derek Musgrove (co-author of "Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital") and journalist Bob Levey on the history of statehood and its current prospects.
On June 16, 2020, the DC History Center presented “Race and Reform: Police Brutality in DC and Its Consequences,” a conversation with historians George Derek Musgrove and Chris Myers Asch, authors of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital, on the history of police brutality and police reform in the city.
On June 25, 2020, professor Eric S. Yellin, author of Racism in the Nation’s Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson’s America (2013) and Anacostia Community Museum’s Senior Curator Samir Meghelli, curator of "A Right to the City," explored the history of segregation of the federal government and how it has reverberated through the decades to influence life here in DC and around the nation.
On August 20, 2020, the DC History Center presented Historian Kyla Sommers, author of the dissertation “‘I Believe in the City:’ The Black Freedom Struggle and the 1968 Civil Disturbances in Washington, D.C.,” in conversation with Tony Gittens, director of the Washington, DC International Film Festival, who was a student at Howard University in 1968.
On November 18, 2020 the DC History Center presented activist Samuel Jordan and journalist Martin Austermuhle in conversation about how civic activism defeated the plan for federal highways through DC.
On January 27, 2021 the DC History Center presented historian Sarah Shoenfeld and social impact designer April De Simone in conversation about the continuing effects of historical racism in housing policy.