ISSUE 03 | November 2019

THE ITINERARY A Quarterly Newsletter of The Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington DC

Tours With Warts by John A. O’Brien

I re-learned this summer that a great tour leaves you with new insights about people. A visit to several cities in Europe gave me the chance to learn from wonderful, experienced tour guides who were proud of and knowledgeable about the history and culture of their countries and communities. They could keep up engaging conversations about themes that emerged from centuries of development that would help them build stories around the odd house, castle, or church in front of us. Their styles were as unique as they were interesting. One of the most striking features in many of our tours was how the guide chose to take on the most controversial historical social topics and integrate them into a modern context.

There don’t seem to be many hard issues in Switzerland, but our guides anticipated questions about the concept of Swiss “neutrality,” especially during World War II. The country is not part of the European Union and maintains a separate currency. We were candidly apprised that the local merchants would be happy to accept our euros, but any change would come back in

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P1 Tours with Warts P7 SMILES P15 Heart and Soul P3 Editor’s Note P8 TAG - Tech/App/Gear Reviews P19 Board Contact Information P4 Alexandria History P9 The 1600 Sessions P6 Who Dat? P11 Books 1

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Swiss francs that are worth considerably less. of the catastrophe. Tour guides in the Slick business folks. This became the Netherlands are encouraged to incorporate introduction to the larger issue of reconciling discussion of this ugly side of Dutch history to the history of savvy Swiss neutrality with what tell a more complete story of the price of their is now understood to have been a symbiotic national development. relationship with the Nazis. They describe with The most surprising tour guide narratives were pride how many refugees, mostly Jewish, were heard in Germany. There is no attempt to hide able to transit their country. But they also from the horrors of the Nazi regime of the relate the more troubling aspects of their middle 20th century. The guides are government’s collaboration to keep the Nazis encouraged to develop the story of a society at bay. They are still uncovering what was the gone mad and point out the organization and human cost of that cooperation. The point is facilities of the Nazis in their towns. Often, the that that this new understanding of the not so guides will add their own family histories glittering truth is being presented by during that era. In Cologne, the building that professional tour guides as an integral part of served as the Gestapo headquarters for their narrative on the country’s institutions and western Germany somehow survived the allied prominent buildings. bombing and has been preserved as the “Nazi The Netherlands was the dominant naval Documentation Center.” Rather than a dry power of the world during the 17th century. archives storage facility that I had assumed it Our history books called this the “Golden Age” to be, this center displays the rooms of torture for that country. Amsterdam is still a and execution, the cells and scratched notes of showcase for the beautiful houses and public the captives, and three floors of a time line buildings as well as the extensive canal system history and explanation. What is documented that were all built with the wealth of that era. is the 16-year process by which Hitler’s Our guides here told us that the government is henchmen brought a nation to embrace racial discouraging the use of the phrase “Golden hatred and Aryan world domination. It is an Age” as research develops a fuller account of unflinching display with which all the guides I how much of the country’s wealth was derived met were familiar. For these guides the story from the transportation of enslaved African of the Allies victory and occupation after the people to the New World. The Dutch may have war was one of gratitude for saving Germany invented the concept of the “Middle Passage” from itself and liberating their country from a by developing the mercantile loop that took horrific ideology. Their message today is to manufactured goods and grain to Africa to lead the world in overcoming a history of anti- exchange for captives who would be taken for Semitism and to atone. The Nazi experience is sale or barter to British colonies. It is built into the narrative of two thousand years estimated that at least 750,000 enslaved of dynamic nation-building and the emergence people may have been transported in Dutch of a country that holds itself accountable for all ships to America. Another 250,000 were of its history. probably delivered to the West Indies and I have heard many of our guild members speak Brazil. An estimated 30% mortality rate among about their responsibility for accurate context those being transported increased the extent Continued to pg 3 2

Fall The Itinerary 2019 Continued from pg 2 A Note from the Editor

in their interpretations. I was amazed Kelvin Carter that my European guides were so Communications Co-Chair consistently forthcoming with the wonders and warts of their cultures with Happy fall everyone, the apparent support of their national governments. There was a recent news Editing The Itinerary is a joy. I enjoy article in The Washington Post about the connecting with our members and seeing negative reactions some of our regional their creativity. We truly have some great historic sites were getting for their minds among us. I am still gathering a efforts to put the perspective of team of people willing to submit articles for enslaved people into their narratives. the following reoccurring features in the They are accused of “propagandizing.” newsletter: app/gear reviews, All of the federal buildings in neighborhood spotlights, exploring areas Washington constructed before the Civil outside of the DC metro area, and business War involved the labor of enslaved aspects of guiding. people. Every community in and near I am happy to say that several people have the District has a history that includes stepped forward with their own ideas and slavery, segregation, and racial suggestions, some of which you will see discrimination. These profoundly reflected in the current issue. affecting themes require that we support a continuous process to give In addition to articles, I also need original context to better explain the evolution photos that can be used as stock images for future articles. When you are out and of our culture. The trend among historic about, if you see an image that catches sites to engage these themes is critically your eye, snap a pic and submit it to me. important to a better understanding of When submitting photos please include a the American experience. There will be title and your name in the file name, so that resistance, but the experience in other you can be properly credited if the image is countries in supporting the enlargement used. of their cultural narratives to embrace controversies that have shaped their All Guild guides, Affiliates, and Friends are societies should encourage us to persist. invited to share their knowledge, expertise, interests, and ideas. I hope that our Guild will continue to expand efforts to press for support of Special thanks to all of those who this process from our governments and contributed time and articles to make this cultural societies. This is the work that issue possible. defines our professionalism. We have a responsibility to interpret the fascinating Please submit articles for the Winter Itinerary. Submissions will be accepted history and culture of the national now through January 31. capital region in its most accurate context, warts and all. Please send articles, questions, and comments to [email protected]

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 A Short Civil War History . of Old Town Alexandria By Tom Schultz

Many Guild guides will simply escort a school bus group to the motor coach drop-off point on King Street at Alexandria City Hall in preparation for their upcoming ghost tours. There’s a great opportunity to share some real history prior to or at the drop-off.

On the early morning of 24 May 1861, the Union Army prepared in Washington for a two-pronged assault on the seaport town of Alexandria. Most of the army crossed the Long Bridge to the Virginia side of the Potomac and proceeded south about eight miles into the north end of the town. Simultaneously, a significant Union amphibious force landed on Alexandria’s waterfront. Amongst the amphibious forces was a unit from New York, the Eleventh Volunteer Infantry Regiment, also known as the First Fire Zouaves.

The Zouaves were led by a dashing young Union Major Elmer E. Ellsworth. Ellsworth was already well known in the Northern states. Prior to the Civil War, his Zouaves barnstormed throughout Northern towns displaying their talents in martial drill and showmanship. They were the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team of the day. The Zouaves and their leader had celebrity status. You could say that Major Ellsworth was the Kanye West of his day. Ellsworth was also a bosom friend of the Lincoln family having clerked for Lincoln in Springfield

Once known as the Potomac Bridge, the Long Bridge connected Washington, D.C. to before the war. Many Northerners Arlington, Virginia over the Potomac River. Russell, Andrew J., photographer - Library would have seen his face before, of Congress either in person at a performance, or in the newspaper or playbill.

The Union Army’s mission that morning included securing a number of strategic points in town including the Telegraph Office, the Post Office, the Railroad Roundhouse, and a number of banks. The Zouaves proceeded up King Street from the waterfront. At the corner of King and Pitt streets stood an unremarkable tavern and boarding house known as the Marshall House (the current Hotel Monaco.) The proprietor James Jackson was an ardent secessionist who flew a 14’ x 24’

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 Confederate flag from a long flagpole on the rooftop of the hotel. He often bragged to his hotel patrons that “the flag will come down over my dead body!”

Upon arriving at the Marshall House, Ellsworth proceeded into the establishment with a small detail of men to take possession of the flag. After taking the flag down and while proceeding down the staircase to the second floor, Ellsworth was shot and killed instantly as Jackson fired from a nearby hotel room at near point-blank range. In turn, Corporal Francis Brownell returned fire and bayoneted Jackson, killing him instantly. Hence, the first two casualties of the Civil War by guns fired in anger happened in Alexandria.

A couple of days after his death, The New York Herald ran an above-the-fold story entitled “The Assassination of Major Ellsworth” with a half-page, woodcut photograph of the handsome major. Prior to the Marshall House incident, many Colonel Ellsworth shot, as he descends a stairway carrying a Northerners were at best indifferent to the confederate flag, by a Rebel sympathizer who is confronted by a secession of the Southern states. However, Zouave carrying a rifle fixed with bayonet. Currier & Ives engraving, 1861- Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division Major Ellsworth provided the North its first martyr. He was not some unknown farm boy but rather someone people “knew” as one of “our boys.” Jackson, in the article, is referred to the “murderer of Ellsworth;” and the soldier who shot Jackson, Corporal Francis Brownell, is listed as the “avenger of Ellsworth.”

On the Southern side, James Jackson is referred to as a martyr for the cause who was “killed by federal soldiers while defending his personal property and personal rights…[H]e laid down his life, an example to all, in defense of his home and sacred soil of his native state VIRGINIA.”

Both sides now had their respective martyr moment and began using powerful language in the press to describe why the struggle was so important. Assassination, murder, killed by federal soldiers, defense of his home and sacred state - these were the types of words that were meant to ignite young men’s passions and encourage them to rally to the flag. Both sides began to muster tens and hundreds of thousands of men into their armies and home-front support infrastructure.

Alexandria would become a home-front support town from that day, ironically for the North, who would occupy the city for the duration of the war.

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 Who Dat? By Bart Smith

He was one of the most prolific and skilled revolutionized submarine warfare). sculptors of the first half of the twentieth - On Constitution Avenue at the Ellipse, where century and his work is on prominent view at thousands pass daily, is his “Second Division many places we pass daily as we tour Memorial” (you know, the one with the sword) Washington. Consider that this one sculptor which he completed with the firm of John was responsible for all the following very Russell Pope. familiar works: - Look up when you’re around the Commerce - At the entrance to Rock Creek Parkway building, the sculpture and relief panels behind the Lincoln Memorial, he was the surrounding the top are his work. sculptor of the heroic gilded bronzes, “Arts of War” and “Arts of Peace”, atop the entrance - And if you haven’t been there lately, in Rock pedestals. Creek Cemetery is the eye-catching Frederick Keep Memorial. - At the National Archives, he was the sculptor of the magnificent south pediment, one of the So who was this guy whose work shows up longest in Washington, as well as the flanking everywhere? statues of “Guardianship” and “Heritage”. That sculptor was the singular James Earle - His work is displayed prominently at both Fraser, born in Minnesota in 1876. His father ends of the Treasury. He sculpted both the was Thomas Fraser, a railroad engineer who statue of Alexander Hamilton and that of had been with the group that was sent to Albert Gallatin. recover the remains of the soldiers after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. - In Arlington National Cemetery, his pieces include the Robert Todd Lincoln sarcophagus, When James Earle was 4 years old, the family as well as the monument at the grave of moved to South Dakota where Native American William Howard Taft. playmates first showed him how to make arrowheads from stone. He grew up there, - Outside the Supreme Court, the statues of among the Sioux and other Native Americans, “Contemplation of Justice” and “Authority of when it was still part of the western frontier of Law” that flank the entrance, are his work. America. He would witness the disappearance - Very near the Lincoln Memorial, don’t miss of the American bison from the prairies, and the the often-overlooked fine work he did on the Native tribes being forced westward or onto monument to John Ericcson (the Swedish Indian reservations. He would progress from engineer who designed the USS Monitor and carving arrowheads to figures out of the local Continued to pg 5 6

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limestone.

By the time he was 14, his talent was being recognized and he was sent to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, later being invited to study at the Ecole de Beaux Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris. Afterwards, he As tour guides, we hear a lot of funny things became an assistant to Augustus Saint- from students. I just came across something Gaudens. one of my students said this past tour Fraser gained recognition after his work was season that I thought was precious enough displayed at the World Exposition in Chicago that I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. in 1893 and in the San Francisco exposition of In the Crypt at the U.S. Capitol, we were 1915 where the “End of the Trail”, an Indian standing in front of the bust of Lincoln and slumped over his horse created a sensation the Capitol tour guide asked my 5th graders (Goggle it, you’ll recognize it). what was different about it. The guide was Important Fraser works in other cities include looking for someone to notice that Lincoln's the Benjamin Franklin Memorial at the left ear was missing. Instead, one of my Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the students literally yelled out in excitement equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt in "someone chopped off his head!" front of the National History Museum in New by Jackie Frend York, and the statue of George S. Patton at West Point. The Case of the missing soap. While each of his sculptures are regularly seen by millions, perhaps his most iconic At times, I stay in the hotel with my groups. work is his 1913 design of the Buffalo nickel. On one occasion, we had dinner in the Even though the nickel was not minted after ballroom after check-in. As one group of 1938, the design was reprised in 2001 and boys was leaving their room to go eat, their 2006 to produce a series of gold bullion coins. teacher asked if they had washed their In addition, medals he designed included the hands, their reply was no because there was WWI Victory Medal and the Navy Cross. His no soap in the room. This was wife, Laura Gardin Fraser, also a sculptor, unacceptable and uncommon for a hotel. designed the Alabama Centennial half-dollar Returning to the room to inspect the in 1921 becoming the first woman to design a situation, the teacher immediately pointed coin for the US Treasury. to a bar of soap laying on the bathroom counter. The boys with full conviction So, you see James Earle Fraser, who died in pointed to the words “face soap” on the 1953, is a constant companion as we move package and acknowledged that yes there around Washington. It’s good to get to know was ”face soap” on the sink and “body soap” him and give him a tip of hat. One last local in the shower, but there was no “hand soap” connection - he also served on the U.S. available. By Kelvin Carter Commission of Fine Arts in Washington from 1920 to 1925. 7

Fall The Itinerary 2019 Technology / Apps / Gear Reviews TAG Reviews As professionals, we seek out resources that will make our work more efficient and effective. In this section we review technologies and equipment that can be useful. The reviews here are personal opinions and not endorsements.

Gear I Take When Guiding remove the jacket or the liner and be still be By Melanie La Force comfortable. Extra pair of socks. If your head or feet are cold I have been a tour guide for nine years. While I and wet, you are miserable. still consider myself a “newbie,” I discovered this year that there is a benchmark for guides. This Hiking boots that are lightweight but have a good benchmark occurs when the guide makes the tread and a rubber edge to keep rain out of your decision to only carry on hand what is essential – boots. Otherwise, a good pair of walking shoes are absolutely essential. Here is my list of gear. a must.

Warm or Hot weather: Lip balm. A must.

Electrolyte tablets and water bottle that fits in a Both Hot and Cold Weather: pocket of my purse are a must in summer months. A pouch that shows my license and guild badge; The water bottle is a must in cold weather. Yes, can hold my iPhone, the itinerary, and some cash; you can be dehydrated when it is cold and and can hold a credit card, drivers’ license, snowing. insurance card, and a Starbucks card (or some kind A hat with UV protectant that can fold to fit in my of card for tea, coffee, or water). purse. I know of a guide that developed a A brush or comb. Yes, it feels good to comb my melanoma on her scalp. hair during the day.

Neutrogena 50+ sunscreen, this is the only A toothbrush and toothpaste. My dentist gives me product that keeps me from breaking out. a free toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss. I try to Cold Weather: brush after lunch. Once when I was at the National Cathedral and brushing my teeth in the A wool hat for my head that covers my ears. I bathroom, an eighth grader came in and said, “I have an Alpaca wool Peruvian hat that I love. wish I could brush my teeth, now.” We met again Alpaca wool is light and soft, and it repels water. on my tour and she said, “I know you. You were Again, foldable and the geekier the better. brushing your teeth in the bathroom.” My dentist would be proud. Merino wool long underwear. I swear by Merino wool. It doesn’t itch and it doesn’t stink when you An umbrella. Preferably pink. Go Pink! sweat in it. If you find you need to take the long underwear off, you can find a bathroom iPhone– Yes, I have walked out of the house and somewhere, take it off and roll the pieces into two gotten on the Metro without my iPhone, and very small balls. franticly ran back to get it. I used Lyft to get to the job site on time. Fingertipless gloves, to keep my hands warm while I use my phone. I have carried other stuff in a microfiber shoulder bag, but these are the items I find essential. A Columbia winter jacket that has a fleece liner and removable outer. If weather shifts, I can If you can think of anything else, go for it!

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 The 1600 Sessions A Podcast from The White House

Historical Association

By Lucy Crowley

The White House Historical Association daughter of President Lyndon B. podcast, The 1600 Sessions, explores the Johnson, about her White House history, untold stories, and personal wedding. accounts of America’s most iconic To listen to these episodes and to residence and office. Through subscribe, visit The1600Sessions.org or conversations with historians, and search 1600 Sessions on iTunes, Spotify, eyewitnesses to history, Association Google Play, and Stitcher from your president Stewart McLaurin opens the mobile device. doors to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and provides listeners with an in-depth, In the most recent episode, “George behind the scenes look at the history at Washington’s Legacy,” Stewart McLaurin the White House. interviews historian Dr. Matthew Costello, author of The Property of the The 1600 Sessions offers a new episode Nation: George Washington's Tomb, Mount every month with prominent guests, Vernon, and the Memory of the First including former White House staff and President, about our first president’s experts, that discuss varying facets of legacy and the precedents Washington White House history. With 34 episodes set. The conversation explores how the to date, 1600 Sessions has covered a nation remembers and memorializes wide range of topics relating to White presidents. Dr. Costello is also Assistant House History such as moving day at the Director of the David M. Rubenstein White House, the refurbishment of the National Center for White House historic Bellangé furniture, and the History. Dr. Costello explains that while White House gardens. Washington never lived in the White Other topics focus on more specific House, he played an instrumental role in moments in White House history such its design, as well as the design of the as the Eisenhower administration and a capital city that bears his name. “What I conversation with Lynda Johnson Robb, always tell people is that Washington

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may not have lived in that building, but Joshua Bolten, former Chief of Staff to that building is very much a President George W. Bush; Rear Admiral representation of what Washington Michael Giorgione, Former Commander envisioned for the presidency,” Costello at Camp David and author of Inside explains in the episode. Camp David: The Private World of the Presidential Retreat; Holly Kuzmich, In “Blair House and the Chief of Executive Director of the George W. Protocol,” three former White House Bush Institute; and Stewart McLaurin, chiefs of protocol are interviewed. Selwa President of the White House Historical “Lucky” Roosevelt (from the Reagan Association. administration), Lloyd Hand (Johnson administration) and Capricia Marshall (Obama administration) talk about their About The White House Historical experiences in the role and the Association importance of Blair House, the President’s official guest residence, in First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy presidential diplomacy. envisioned a restored White House that conveyed a sense of history through its Located across Pennsylvania Avenue decorative and fine arts. In 1961, the from the White House, historic Blair White House Historical Association was House was constructed in 1824, and was established to support her vision to first utilized by the President and First preserve and share the Executive Lady in the 1940s. “The day came when Mansion’s legacy for generations to Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt persuaded come. Franklin that we needed a guest house. And through the government they Supported entirely by private resources, bought the Blair House. They got a the Association’s mission is to assist in bargain because they got this fantastic the preservation of the state and public house with all of the Blair collections,” rooms, fund acquisitions for the White explains “Lucky” Roosevelt in this House permanent collection, and episode. educate the public on the history of the White House. Since its founding, the “Life at Camp David” serves as an White House Historical Association has insider’s look at the president’s retreat. contributed more than $50 million in The conversation was recorded in front fulfillment of its mission. To learn more of an audience during the George W. about the White House Historical Bush Presidential Center’s program Association, please visit series “Camp David: An Insider’s Look”. www.whitehousehistory.org. The program features stories told by

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 “The Biggest Slave Escape in American History By Ed Moser Books

head off civil war, Webster backed a compromise "In spring 1848, freedom was in the air, as that empowered slave owners to recapture democratic revolts erupted throughout Europe. escaped slaves. From Ireland through the German-speaking countries to Russia, the people rose up against In the Square, some of the blacks passed near the princes and kings. Dolley Madison House half a block from Webster’s home. In the years before her death in In Lafayette Square, orators such as Sen. Henry 1849, the former First Lady lived in abject poverty. Foote of Mississippi hailed the spread of liberty Webster asked Paul Jennings, a former slave overseas. Foote, pro-Union, yet a lawyer who who’d been President Madison’s body servant, to represented slave-owning interests, lauded the look in on Mrs. Madison. prospect "to the whole family of man…the universal establishment of civil and religious If you’ve seen the television series “Downton liberty…the age of tyrants and of slavery was Abbey”, you’d recognize a body servant as the rapidly drawing to a close." domestic who washes and dresses the Earl of Grantham. That was Jennings’ role with President Down by the Waterside Madison. In 1847, Paul Jennings had been able to The irony of lauding democracy abroad while buy his freedom, through a $120 loan given him tolerating servitude at home was not lost among by Daniel Webster. some members of Washington’s African-American From time to time Jennings brought the community. Aided by white abolitionists, they impoverished Mrs. Madison groceries. The determined to act. former slave even lent his former owner cash. On the night of Saturday, April 15, 1848, scores of In the gloom of that April 15 night, the blacks, blacks quietly walked or rode by horse or carriage probably 77 people in all, kept walking or riding through the darkened streets of Washington. along. They wanted to be invisible. They They moved out from houses and work places welcomed the evening gloom, made gloomier by near the White House, Georgetown, and about the overcast sky, and by the fact the city had few Capitol Hill. whale-oil street lamps. Under cloudy skies, they moved fast. They had to The African-Americans--men and women, adults, beat the 10 pm city curfew on travel by African- teenagers, and children—headed to the south Americans. They traveled individually or in very part of town. A light rain fell as some went across small groups. the National Mall. Some slipped by the In Lafayette Square, some went near the Smithsonian Castle, then under construction, or residence of a skeptic of slavery and fervent past the half-built Washington Monument. Their supporter of national unity: Massachusetts destination was the 7th St. wharf on the Patomac Senator Daniel Webster. In 1830, during a Senate River, about a mile south of the Mall at today’s debate on whether states could void federal law, rebuilt Waterfront. Webster had declared: “Liberty and Union, Now The 77 souls made up the largest attempted slave and Forever, One and Inseparable!” Yet in 1850, to escape in American history. 11

Fall The Itinerary 2019 Awaiting them was a 54-ton schooner, named was blacksmith Daniel Bell; he was a free man of the Pearl. On board were two white men who color whose enslaved family members boarded were ship captains and abolitionists: Captain the Pearl. Another was Samuel Edmondson; he’d Edward Sayres and Captain Daniel Drayton. got onto the schooner with five of his sisters and brothers. The weather-beaten, 56-year-old Drayton had spent years sailing the Chesapeake, where he’d A Getaway Foiled encountered slaves fleeing bondage. He When dawn broke on April 16, many slave owners wondered: “Why had not these black people, so in Washington, Georgetown, and the town of anxious to escape from their masters, as good a Alexandria woke up expecting to see their slaves light to their liberty as I had to mine?” cooking breakfast, tending a garden, or preparing The passengers boarded the Pearl. Sayres and to go to work at a hotel or boarding house. But Drayton slipped the ship out of dockside. They their servants had vanished. piloted the schooner quietly down the Potomac Word of the absences spread. And word spread toward the Chesapeake Bay. They fretted when even quicker because of a betrayal by an African- the Pearl encountered a calm, and met a American carriage driver, Judson Diggs. After contrary tide. Then the wind picked up, and the driving an enslaved woman to the Pearl’s dock, tide reversed. Diggs was riled when the woman told him she Their strategy was to head all the way up the lacked money for the fare. Diggs was also angry Chesapeake to Delaware, not far from the at another passenger named Emily, the sister of borders of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where Samuel Edmundson. She’d previously declined slavery was banned. The route was about 225 Diggs’ offer of marriage. He would even the score. miles long. Once the slaves reached the soil of a That morning, word of the escape reached free state, they’d be free. Georgetown’s Francis Dodge, Jr. His family owned The daring escape took a lot of planning, a large tobacco warehouse on the Georgetown especially in getting a hold of a ship and pilots, waterfront, at Water St. and Wisconsin Avenue. and in coordinating the simultaneous The stone structure is still there, at today’s K St. movement of many slaves. Usually, in traveling Dodge owned three of the Pearl escapees. North via the Underground Railroad of safe As fire alarms signaling the escape rang out houses, fleeing slaves would journey alone or in throughout town, Dodge formed an armed posse small groups to avoid attention. of several dozen men. They pressed aboard his The escape was likely planned in large part by steam-powered boat, the Salem, reputedly the William Chaplain, a New York abolitionist. It was river’s fastest vessel. Meanwhile Diggs, the largely financed by wealthy Empire State embittered hack driver, informed others in the abolitionist, Gerrit Smith. (In 1859, Smith would region-wide manhunt. secretly back John Brown’s attempted slave Dodge and his posse steamed rapidly down the insurrection at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.) Chaplain Potomac. They neared the Chesapeake without and Smith figured the odds for a successful sighting the fugitive ship, and almost gave up the escape were slim. However, they figured the chase. On the Pearl, according to author Mary Kay endeavor would spotlight the issue of slavery in Ricks, the passengers sang hymns and recited the nation’s capital. Bible verses. The two main plotters got help from local However, at Point Lookout, where the Potomac members of the Underground Railroad. One

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 flows into the mighty Bay, a squall forced Mann had defended, with former President John the Pearl to lay anchor. This allowed the Salem to Quincy Adams, 53 slaves who’d escaped the catch up. Spotting its prey, it pulled alongside. Spanish ship Amistad. (There is a riveting Steven The slaves, their hopes of liberty dashed, and Spielberg movie about it, with Anthony Hopkins having no weapons, surrendered. in the Adams role.) The Salem towed the Pearl and its human cargo back to Washington City. The court sentenced both captains to prison. In 1852, President Millard Fillmore would pardon In town, thousands of whites gathered in anger. them. They cursed the captured blacks, taken in shackles to a slave pen near the southwestern The Pearl saga became a political football. In the foot of the Capitol building. The white captains Capitol building, Northern and Southern were taken in chains toward the city jail on the congressmen traded invective, until an Illinois other side of the Capitol, at today’s Judiciary lawmaker, Abraham Lincoln, moved to shut Square. On the way, a white mob accused the down debate. pair of inciting a slave revolt. A man slashed at The following year, Lincoln proposed buying and Captain Drayton, cutting his ear. Fearing a freeing all the slaves in Washington. The next lynching, police hustled the two into a horse- year, the Senate fiercely debated its drawn cab that carried them to their cells. Compromise of 1850 over slavery. During a During the ensuing Washington Riot of 1848, the rancorous session, Sen. Foote, the pro- mob turned its fury on the press. On April 18, a democracy orator, pulled a gun on fellow Sen. crowd nearly destroyed the offices of an Philip Hart Benton. Even though both men were abolitionist newspaper, the New Era, located near for the Compromise! the old Patent Office Building, today’s National The law that resulted strengthened the Fugitive Portrait Gallery. Its stalwart editor, Gamaliel Slave Act, the Sen. Webster-backed measure Bailey, told the teeming throngs he would not giving owners more clout to recapture escaped “surrender a great constitutional right” of free slaves. The same legislative deal, however, speech. Around the building, President James K. outlawed much of the slave trade in Washington, Polk stationed additional guards, over 75 in D.C. number. After a few days of turmoil, the riot fizzled out.

Meanwhile the owners of the captured slaves, deemed them untrustworthy and didn’t want their charges back. They quickly sold them off, at the Bruin and Hill slave trading firm in Alexandria. People in Louisiana and Georgia purchased them.

Washington’s District Attorney, Philip Barton Key--the son of Francis Scott Key—led the prosecution of Captains Sayres and Drayton. The court convicted them of 77 counts of “illegal transportation”.

Their defense attorney was Massachusetts educator Horace Mann. Seven years prior, 13

Fall The Itinerary 2019 Giving Birth to a Bestseller the capture of more fugitive slaves, helping the massive escape! The saga of the Pearl continued. Two of the women who were sold off became icons of Another plotter was--Paul Jennings. The former abolition. These were teenaged sisters: 15-year- slave Webster had asked to watch over Dolley old Mary Edmundson and 13-year-old Emily Madison, and who had labored for the Madisons for Edmundson. It was Emily who’d spurned Diggs, decades! and it was their brother Samuel who’d helped plan the escape. The largest escape of them all failed, but it had quite an impact. A statue of the Edmundson sisters stands outside the former Alexandria slave pen from A Postscript which they were sold. Today the operators of At the end of the Civil War, and after his three sons the building buy and sell houses. had fought in the Union Army, Jennings published a An abolitionist minister in Brooklyn, New York memoir about James Madison. He harbored no ill took up the torch of the Edmundson sisters. He will. He wrote: raised enough money from his congregation, “Mr. Madison, I think, was one of the best men that from abolitionists, and from the Edmundsons’ ever lived. I never saw him in a passion, and never father Paul, a free black man, to purchase their knew him to strike a slave, although he had over freedom. one hundred; neither would he allow an overseer to The name of the minister was: Henry Ward do it. Whenever any slaves were reported to him as Beecher. stealing or ‘cutting up’ badly, he would send for them and admonish them privately, and never The name of his sister was: Harriet Beecher mortify them by doing it before others”. Stowe. From the perspective of the 21st century, the city’s Harriet was fascinated by the story of the Pearl. antebellum era seems a weird and wild one indeed. It inspired her to write a novel indicting slavery, a book that became a mammoth bestseller. Excerpted from The book was: Uncle Tom’s Cabin. the forthcoming book: It was published in a series by Gamaliel Bailey, the man whose newspaper the mob had The White House’s threatened. Unruly Neighborhood Greatly popular in the North, and banned in the South, Uncle Tom’s Cabin presaged the Civil War. by Guild Member Edward P. Moser It also coined the term “Uncle Tom”, as in a subservient black; rather like Judson Diggs.

After the fact, the identities of some of the other plotters in America’s largest slave escape came to light.

Sen. Daniel Webster may have been involved. The Senator who’d agreed to the law leading to 14

Fall The Itinerary 2019 D. C. Heart and Soul Five Reasons to Tour Anacostia

by Russ Norfleet

1. Green Space and Views

About a mile east of the Anacostia River is a 200 to 300-foot high ridge that runs parallel to the river. The ridge is mostly forested. Union forts were constructed on the high points to protect Washington, DC from Confederate invasion during the Civil War. A trail runs along the ridge line with magnificent views of the metro area. Adjacent to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church is the location of Fort Stanton. The view of the monumental core of Washington, DC from here is hard to beat. It is like looking down on the city from a mountaintop.

Anacostia Park is 1,200 acres of green space along both sides of the Anacostia River. The park has open and wooded areas; recreation fields and facilities; trails for walking, running, and roller blading; wildlife; historic sites; and river views and access. Anacostia Park includes Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, which has beautiful water lilies and lotuses, and Kenilworth marsh, with a boardwalk across wetlands.

The preservation of the fort locations and the creation of Anacostia Park were recommendations in the 1901 McMillian Commission Plan.

2. Small Town Charm

In 1854, Uniontown, the first planned suburb of Washington was laid out. Development languished until the 1880s when streetcars started crossing the Anacostia River. This spurred the construction of many modest, one- and two-story dwellings in a variety of architectural styles, (Italianate, Cottage, Washington Row, and a few Queen Anne) marketed to the white working class. In the rural areas were farms and small communities of whites and blacks.

In 1866, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman, and Abandoned Lands, a government agency created to assist the formerly enslaved, bought and developed Barry’s Farm southeast of Uniontown into a community where blacks could build and own their own homes.

By the turn of the 20th century, a thriving commercial district had developed along today’s Martin

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 Luther King, Jr. Avenue and Good Hope Road.

The Anacostia Historic District was created in 1978 to protect the area’s unique architecture and small-town charm. A walk along the Anacostia Heritage Trail through the historic district will increase your understanding of the neighborhood’s history, culture, and architecture.

3. African American History

In 1791, when the area became part of the District of Columbia, blacks comprised about 25% of the population. Most were slaves, but some were free farmers, artisans and craftsman. When slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862, many of the newly emancipated slaves sought work and protection from the Union Army at the forts that circled the city, while others joined existing black settlements. By 1869, 500 African American families owned homes in Barry’s Farm. In 1871, the first public school for African Americans opened in Barry’s Farm.

In 1877, Frederick Douglass, the runaway slave, abolitionist, suffragist, author, newspaper editor, and statesman, purchased the house built by John Van Hook, one of the original developers of Uniontown. Located on a hill overlooking Anacostia, Cedar Hill has a spectacular view of the United States Capitol. Douglass was active in national and community affairs and worked diligently to protect the interests of the freedmen, many of whom were his neighbors. Three of his sons lived in Barry’s Farm. The house, its furnishings, and artifacts are preserved so authentically by the National Park Service that you may expect Frederick Douglass to step forth and greet you on your tour.

In 1941, just before the U.S. entered World War II, Dr. Frederick Douglass Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), and a former resident of Anacostia, asked First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a member of the board of the Rosenwald Foundation, to visit Tuskegee with other board members. They did and were asked to make a grant to Tuskegee to create an airfield and training program for black pilots. The grant was awarded and the first African American military flying unit was established, which came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Patterson later founded the United Negro College Fund and the College Endowment Program. In 1987, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor from President Reagan.

Residents of Anacostia and Hillsdale played a key role in the desegregation of schools in Washington, DC and the nation. The Consolidated Parents Group (CPG) was formed to challenge the overcrowded and deteriorated condition of schools serving black students. In 1950, a group of 25 black students tried to enroll in recently built and underutilized whites only Sousa Junior High School, but were turned away. The resulting lawsuit, Bolling v. Sharpe, became a companion case to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 that desegregated schools across the nation.

4. The “A Right To The City” Exhibit at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum

Description of the exhibit from the museum web page:

How Washingtonians have shaped and reshaped their neighborhoods in extraordinary ways. After a half- century of population decline and disinvestment, Washington, DC, today is home to a rapidly growing population, rising rents and home prices, major new development projects, but also deepening inequality. A Right to the City explores more than five decades of neighborhood change in the nation’s capital as well as the rich history of organizing and civic engagement that accompanied it. Highlighting six 16

Fall The Itinerary 2019 neighborhoods across the city—Adams Morgan, Anacostia, Brookland, Chinatown, Shaw, and Southwest—the exhibition tells the story of how ordinary Washingtonians have helped shape and reshape their neighborhoods in extraordinary ways: through the fight for quality public education, for healthy and green communities, for equitable development and transit, and for a genuinely democratic approach to city planning.

5. An Evolving Neighborhood

See how change is playing out in Anacostia.

Historically, investment in Anacostia has lagged behind other city neighborhoods, but it is happening now at a quickening pace.

The business district was designated as a DC Main Street in 2002 and funding was provided for commercial façade and streetscape improvements. DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development moved its offices to Anacostia in 2009.

Government programs were put into place to encourage rehabilitation and development in the area. Some new housing and mixed-use projects have been constructed and some existing housing and commercial buildings have been rehabilitated.

Busboys and Poets opened its restaurant, bar, bookstore, and events venue on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in March 2019. Mapleview Flats, a mixed-use project with 114 affordable apartments and 14,000 square foot of retail, was completed in 2019.

The US Coast Guard relocated its headquarters to St. Elizabeths West Campus in 2013. Homeland Security is in the process of relocating its headquarters to the property.

St. Elizabeths East Campus is being redeveloped as a mixed-use neighborhood of retail, office, housing, open space, and cultural amenities. The Entertainment and Sports Arena opened last year. It is the home of the reigning Women’s National Basketball champion Washington Mystics, a practice facility for the Washington Wizards, and a location for concerts, boxing matches, esports tournaments and more. The first occupants are moving into the Residences at St. Elizabeths, an apartment complex with 252 units, 80% of which are affordable.

In Anacostia, like other lower-income DC neighborhoods, market forces (strong job market and strong demand for housing) are overwhelming the city’s ability to ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing for existing and new residents. DC is putting into place programs to ensure more equitable and inclusive development and economic opportunity for all, including the provision of housing for a variety of income groups and household types in all neighborhoods.

In general, affordable units for purposes of receiving DC governmental assistance are units priced for households making at or less than 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) and for people making at or less than 80% of AMI. The 2019 AMI for the Washington, DC area is $121,300.

Anacostia residents’ vision is a safe, walkable, and attractive neighborhood with restored historic buildings and compatible, well-designed new housing and mixed-use projects. They want a revitalized neighborhood with an array of places to live, work, worship, and play; a voice in the decisions that shape their neighborhood and future; and to participate in and benefit from Washington’s economic growth.

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Fall The Itinerary 2019 An example of this more equitable and inclusive development concept is 11th Street Bridge Park, a project of the nonprofit organization, Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR). BBAR is working on building an elevated park across the Anacostia River on the piers of the old 11th Street Bridge.

The mission of BBAR is to improve the quality of life for children and adults who reside east of the Anacostia River by providing leadership, management and financial oversight of the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), 11th Street Bridge Park, THEARC Farm, THEARC Theater, and Skyland Workforce Center. Through these projects, BBAR uses a multi-prong approach to address the social, health, environmental and economic disparities that exist in Anacostia and other

communities in Ward 8. With the support of community stakeholders, elected officials, and an engaged board of directors, BBAR gets things done.

11th Street Bridge Park will increase connectivity between those living on both sides of the Anacostia River. Bound by the Washington Navy Yard on the west and Anacostia Park on the east, the park will be a destination for some, a pedestrian and bicycle route for others, and a symbol of a connected city. The park will include outdoor performance spaces, playgrounds, urban agriculture, an Environmental Education Center, public art, and kayak and canoe launches.

BBAR has raised about 80% of the $139 million in public and private funding necessary to transform the remains of the old bridge into a park and make investments in Ward 8, such as for affordable housing and job training. The intent is that the park be a prime example of how, through a community-driven-vetting process, the public and private sectors in Washington, DC can create world-class public space and share the benefits of urban development in a fairer and more inclusive way.

Reference Sources:

Anacostia Historic District, Washington, DC, DC Historic Preservation Office https://bbardc.org/partner/bbar-building-bridges-across-the-river/

Comprehensive Plan for Far Southeast & Southwest, DC Department of Planning https://dhcd.dc.gov/service/inclusionary-zoning-affordable-housing-program

Dale, Dianne. “Barry Farm/Hillsdale: A Freedman’s Village.” In Washington at Home: An Illustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation’s Capital, edited by Kathryn Schneider Smith, Second Edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

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THE GUILD OF PROFESSIONAL TOUR GUIDES OF WASHINGTON, DC https://www.washingtondctourguides.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS - 2019 Elected Officers:

President: Jackie Frend 703-966-7717 [email protected] 1st Vice President: Corky Rainey 703-867-7246 [email protected] 2nd Vice President: Maria Limarzi 301-928-7614 [email protected] Treasurer: Bart Smith 571-228-7591 [email protected] Secretary: Mary Thorne 202-550-5596 [email protected] Guild Guide Rep: John Days 240-988-8550 [email protected] Affiliate Rep: Karen Miller 703-973-0391 [email protected]

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