Object Image: People Marching in the March on Washington
Object Description: Held on August 28, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, along with an alliance of civil rights, labor, and religious leaders, to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African-American. About 250,000 people attended the march and listened to the speeches, including Dr King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech. The march was credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This image taken by Dr. Darrell Crain show marches making their way along the parade root in peaceful protest.
Holding Respository: DC Public Library, Darrell C. Crain, Jr. Photograph Collection; Collection P035
Object Image: Old Yarrow
Object Description: Yarrow Mamout was born in West Africa around 1736. He was enslaved and taken to Annapolis, MD in 1752. He spoke Fula and could read and write Arabic and knew rudimentary English. historians believe he came from a wealthy and educated Muslim family. Sold to the Samuel Beall plantation in Takoma Park, serving as Beall's manservant. Following the Beall's move to Georgetown, Yarrow began hiring himself out as a jack of all trades as Beall allowed him to keep a portion of the wages he earned. After 44 years of slavery, at the age of 60, he manumitted as his owners thought him to old to work. He continued to work and save eventually owning a house on Dent Place and became an investor in the Columbia Bank of Georgetown.
Holding Respository: DC Public Library, Peabody Room Art Collection
Object Image: Clifford Berryman Cartoon Collection
Object Description: Clifford Berryman was a Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist for the Washington Star and the Washington Post. While Berryman drew thousands of cartoons commenting on American presidents and political figures, he was a strong supporter of DC struggle for representation within congress. "DC," dressed in colonial attire and usually hampered by a "Taxation without Representation" ball and chain, became one of his usual characters. He used the DC character to highlight the plight of DC residents who lacked congressional representation and the right to vote.
Holding Respository: DC Public Library, Clifford Berryman Collection; Collection P008
Object Image: Resurrection City Song Book
Object Description: The Poor People's Campaign was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. Conceived by Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, marchers presented an organized set of demands to Congress and then set up a 3,000 person protest camp on the National Mall, where they stayed for six weeks. The shantytown, known as Resurrection City, consisted of a collection of simple tent like building designed by University of Maryland architect John Wiebenson. From the encampment, groups went out on small excursions in attempts to meet with members of Congress. The encampment and lobbying efforts failed to bring about any meaningful legislation and on June 24, 1968 over 1,000 police officers began forcibly removing the residents of Resurrection City and in the following days it was removed from the Mall.
Holding Respository: DC Public Library, Poor People's Campaign Collection; Collection 119
Object Image: DC is number 2 nationally in air pollution
Object Description: The Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis (ECTC) grew out of the efforts of residents in northeast D.C. and Maryland who organized to prevent government confiscation of homes in the path of a proposed freeway development project. As a grassroots organization, ECTC relied on public demonstrations, rallies, and meetings to gain support for its cause in the late 1960s. In particular, ECTC was involved in a prolonged demonstration and sit-in at the construction site of the Three Sisters Bridge, held rallies to protest confiscation of homes in the Brookland neighborhood of D.C., and picketed Mayor Walter Washington's home in opposition of freeway construction. ECTC was interested in a number of related issues such as urban planning, environmental issues, home rule, D.C. statehood, and civil rights. It also supported a metrorail system as an alternative to freeways.
Holding Respository: DC Public Library, Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis Records; Collection 036