The National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, held on October 14, 1979, was inspired in part by the assassination of openly gay California politician Harvey Milk. The five issues the march supported included the end of anti-homosexual…

The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom attracted demonstrators of all ages. Edith Lee-Payne attended the March, which was held on her twelfth birthday, with her mother who thought it important to teach her about the Civil Rights struggle.…

Although most of the office buildings constructed on the Mall to house war department offices during World War I and II had been removed by the 1960s, a row of buildings from 1918 still stood in the space between Constitution Avenue and the…

Held in the spring of 1957, the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom was organized by the newly formed Southern Leaders Conference (later known as the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition or SCLC). 25,000 demonstrators attended the event at the Lincoln…

The National Air and Space Museum holds the world's largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. A second location in Chantilly, Virginia, opened in 2003 to display even more items from its collection, including the Space Shuttle…

The creation of a memorial to Civil War Union General George Meade was first proposed by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1911. Congress approved the memorial in 1915, but conflicts between the Pennsylvania Meade Memorial Commission and the Washington…

Hundreds of tractors paraded into Washington in February 5, 1979 to protest existing agriculture policies. The American Agriculture Movement organized this protest in 1979 after the 1st Tractorcade in 1978 did not bring changes they demanded. After…

In this photo, residents of Resurrection City wash mud from their feet. In the late spring and early summer of 1968, 2800 demonstrators camped on the Mall on 15 acres of open space south of the Reflecting Pool, including the area which is now the…

The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam took place in November, 1969. Thousands of people came to Washington to protest the Vietnam War, meeting throughout the city but especially on the National Mall. This video shows protesters gathered near the…

In 1930, the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission selected Leo Friedlander to design a pair of statues representing war. Lack of funding because of the Depression delayed the project until 1935, when it was decided to use bronze instead of the more…