Rodriguez, Ana Patricia. '”Becoming `Wachintonians
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Washington History in the Classroom This article, © the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., is provided free of charge to educators, parents, and students engaged in remote learning activities. It has been chosen to complement the DC Public Schools curriculum during this time of sheltering at home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Washington History magazine is an essential teaching tool,” says Bill Stevens, a D.C. public charter school teacher. “In the 19 years I’ve been teaching D.C. history to high school students, my scholars have used Washington History to investigate their neighborhoods, compete in National History Day, and write plays based on historical characters. They’ve grappled with concepts such as compensated emancipation, the 1919 riots, school integration, and the evolution of the built environment of Washington, D.C. I could not teach courses on Washington, D.C. Bill Stevens engages with his SEED Public Charter School history without Washington History.” students in the Historical Society’s Kiplinger Research Library, 2016. Washington History is the only scholarly journal devoted exclusively to the history of our nation’s capital. It succeeds the Records of the Columbia Historical Society, first published in 1897. Washington History is filled with scholarly articles, reviews, and a rich array of images and is written and edited by distinguished historians and journalists. Washington History authors explore D.C. from the earliest days of the city to 20 years ago, covering neighborhoods, heroes and she-roes, businesses, health, arts and culture, architecture, immigration, city planning, and compelling issues that unite us and divide us. The full runs of Washington History (1989-present) and its predecessor publication the Records of the Columbia Historical Society (1897-1988) are available through JSTOR, an online archive to which many institutions subscribe. It’s easy to set up a personal JSTOR account, which allows for free online reading of six articles per month in any of their journals, or join the Historical Society at the Membership Plus level for unlimited free access to our publications. From the From the Executive Director Editor he opening of the new Smithsonian National t Washington History we seek out the novel, the Museum of African American History and Culture on unexpected, and the intriguing. Imagine, for exam- T the National Mall is an important milestone for Aple, that a seemingly sturdy, permanent building Becoming “Wachintonians” history—for local Washington, D.C., as well as the nation. once might have been located in a different spot. In our lat- The Historical Society is proud to have been partners with est “Teachable Moment” (page 49), Matthew Gilmore and the museum since 2014. In celebration of the D.C. history Kim Prothro Williams explain that building moving hap- Salvadorans in the Washington, D.C., community’s newest arrival, I encourage you to view the pened often. Examining a 1928 “Permit to Move” applica- YouTube video of Lonnie Bunch, the museum’s founding tion, they show how Washingtonians have long altered our Metropolitan Area director, accepting the Historical Society’s 2016 Visionary built environment by simply picking up and moving build- Historian Award on May 26, presented by Mayor Muriel ings—often just a few feet, but sometimes a mile or more— BY ANA PATRICIA RODRÍGUEZ Bowser and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton that happen to be in the way. It’s quite amazing! (YouTube.com/DCHistoryChannel). The articles and features in this issue offer a variety of The progress we have made revitalizing our exhibits and fresh insights into our city’s past. Local scholar Antoinette J. programs is astounding. We have presented six new exhibits Lee’s unexpected story of Asian and Asian American stu- and related programs since the creation of the groundbreak- dents attending white D.C. public schools during the Jim ing “For the Record” in the spring of 2015. We continue to Crow era challenges the notion that segregation was a fixed, plan exhibits that consider the past, present, and, yes, the rigid system (page 34). Ana Patricia Rodríguez of the Univer- future of the District. The Historical Society creates learning sity of Maryland uses literature and music to expand our opportunities, student experiences, and programs for local understanding of the Salvadoran community, which com- residents both new and generations old. These are framed prises more than one-third of the area’s Latino population within themes such as “Building D.C.”—urban planning, (page 3). Historian Rachel Christian uncovers the life of Wil- architecture, and design in retrospect—and “1968”—when liam Metzerott, a German immigrant who built a thriving the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. music business during and after the Civil War (page 54). In lit the fuse of social unrest. Your participation in creating our “Person of Interest” feature, we meet Annie Stein, a rad- these exhibits and programs and your responses to them will ical daughter of Jewish immigrants who helped drive the help shape your Historical Society’s future. movement to end segregation in city businesses (page 80). As the number one fan of Washington History, I would like Asian students in white schools, Salvadoran artists, immi- to congratulate John DeFerrari on being named the maga- grant music entrepreneurs, radical labor organizers, . these zine’s review editor. John is the scribe behind the widely read Washingtonians have shaped the course of D.C. history in “Streets of Washington” blog, and he already has brought fascinating and sometimes surprising ways. fresh insight to our editorial team. Welcome aboard! Come along as we go underground with photographer Last but not least, I hope to see you at the historic Carne- Phil Portlock, whose extraordinary and often eerie photos gie Library in the coming months for all the exciting pro- of the construction of the Metro offer a different perspec- grams and exhibits (details at DCHistory.org). I encourage tive on our once-beloved but now beleaguered transit sys- you to volunteer and donate to the Historical Society of tem (page 16). And our ongoing “Best of the Web” feature MEMBERS OF THE Central American Resource Center rally in front of Washington, D.C., to support the important work of the only sifts through the digital media to find entertaining and local nonprofit museum dedicated to collecting, preserving, informative online gems. the White House in support of Central American child migrants in August and interpreting the history of Washington. Washington History seeks to capture the vitality and com- 2014. As Washington’s Salvadoran immigrant community has grown, plexity of our city’s past. As always, we encourage your —John T. Suau contributions to the magazine—original research, sugges- individuals have developed a hybrid “Wachintonian” culture celebrated tions for stories, feedback on what you have read in these in song, poetry, and fiction. Unless noted, all photographs appear, courtesy, the author. pages. Constructive critiques are welcome, too! —Chris Myers Asch 2 WASHINGTON HISTORY Fall 2016 3 alvadorans, wrote the revolutionary poet ever, did not arrive in great numbers until the Roque Dalton, are a resilient, “hacelotodo” 1960s and 1970s, when U.S. and home country S(can-do-everything) people who, despite diplomats, government employees, and interna- experiencing great repression, violence, and tional agency personnel sponsored Central Ameri- exclusion in their homeland and elsewhere, per- can, including Salvadoran, female domestic severe in and outside of their country. They also workers and childcare providers. These midcen- are the largest immigrant group in the Washing- tury migrants established a primarily Salvadoran ton, D.C., metropolitan area. In 2013 the U.S. enclave within the increasingly Latino neighbor- Census Bureau estimated that 21,276 Salvador- hoods of Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and ans resided in the District, representing 34 per- Columbia Heights in Northwest Washington, espe- cent of D.C.’s Latino population and more than 3 cially along the Columbia Road and Mount Pleas- percent of the city’s population overall. Yet few ant Street corridors. These areas offered relatively Washingtonians know their history or recognize affordable housing, immigrant services and sup- their important demographic, cultural, and eco- port, and proximity to jobs in the city and nearby nomic presence in the region.1 Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Women predomi- Often mislabeled “El Salvadorans”—generally, nated in the migration of the 1960s and 1970s, but the preferred terms are Salvadoran, Salvador- the economic growth of the 1980s made more eño/a, Salvadorian, or Salvadorean, without the construction, hospitality, and service industry jobs article “El”—they fill every niche of the local labor available for both immigrant men and women. market. They are students, teachers, professors, Salvadorans gravitated to jobs held or formerly doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, writ- held by African American, Latino, and other immi- ers, artists, performers, activists, and specialists in grant workers.3 the nonprofit, construction, hospitality, health- In the 1980s the local Salvadoran community care, homecare, daycare, and security industries, grew significantly after a civil war erupted between among many other fields. As their poems, short El Salvador’s right-wing government and left- stories, music, and other creative works attest, Sal- wing guerrillas organized as the Farabundo Martí vadorans have forged a sense of belonging, home, National Liberation Front (FMLN). U.S. military and cultural identity in the D.C. metropolitan area. aid to government forces prolonged the war, which lasted from 1979 to 1992. During the war El Latino community members march down 16th Street NW toward the Capitol to support immigration reform, March 21, 2010. Their banner reads, “No Human Being is Illegal.” alvadorans first began coming to the Wash- Salvador received $6 billion in U.S. military and ington area in the late 19th century as part economic aid, the third-largest beneficiary in the Sof Central American political and cultural world.