Smithsonian Carousel
In 1967, Smithsonian Secretary <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/134">S. Dillon Ripley</a> opened a <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/197">carousel on the Mall</a>. Built in 1922, the carousel featured music played by a Wurlitzer organ. In the photo, Ripley celebrated its 10th anniversary on the Mall. By 1981, the carousel was too difficult to repair and it was replaced by a larger one that remains today. The current carousel originally ran in Baltimore's Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, and was the first ride taken by an African American child when the park was desegregated in 1963.
Smithsonian Institution Archives photograph, <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_8247?back=%2Fsearch%2Fsia_search_collections%2Fsmithsonian%2520carousel">View original</a>.
04/12/1967 (dedicated)
1981 (replaced)
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1980-1999">1980-1999</a>
Capture of escaped slaves on the <em>Pearl</em>
In 1848, 77 enslaved African Americans, including the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/283">Edmonson sisters</a>, attempted to escape their bondage in Washington, DC, by fleeing north to freedom via the ship the<em> Pearl</em>. Unfortunately, unfavorable winds slowed their escape, the ship was captured, and the escapees were brought back to Washington. This newspaper article<em> </em>details the attempted escape, capture, and a minor riot which broke out on the land that would become the National Mall as the<em> Pearl'</em>s passengers were transported to jail.
<em>The Examiner</em> (Louisville, Kentucky).
4/29/1848
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
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 laws and a push for a ban on discrimination in the federal government based on sexual orientation. Thousands of people attended, and the event nationalized the movement for gay rights, which was previously fragmented and focused on problems in individual communities.
Vampiress144 via Wikimedia Commons. <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANational_March_on_Washington_for_Lesbian_and_Gay_Rights_Button.JPG">View original.</a>
10/14/1979
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
Edmonson Sisters
Mary and Emily Edmonson were among the 77 enslaved African Americans who boarded the schooner, Pearl, in 1848 intending to sail down the Potomac, then north to freedom. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/287">Captured when the Pearl becalmed</a>, the Edmonson sisters were jailed. They awaited sale as slaves in New Orleans while their father, a freeman, worked to raise money to buy their freedom. Abolitionists, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, heard of their plight and launched a fundraising effort that lead to the sisters' emancipation. The Edmonsons later studied at Oberlin College in Ohio, and became active anti-slavery crusaders.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Edmonson+Sisters">Edmonson Sisters</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cph/item/91789694/">View original image</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Edith Lee-Payne at the 1963 March on Washington
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. Though she was not aware of it until well into adulthood, Edith's photo became one of the iconic images of the Civil Rights Movement, used in publications around the world.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Rowland+Scherman+%28photographer%29">Rowland Scherman (photographer)</a>
National Archives at College Park. <a href="http://research.archives.gov/description/542030">View original</a>.
08/28/1963
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
Held in the spring of 1957, the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom was organized by the newly formed <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/73">Southern Leaders Conference </a>(later known as the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition or SCLC). 25,000 demonstrators attended the event at the Lincoln Memorial, urging the Eisenhower administration to push for compliance with Brown v. Board of Education's school integration. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/90">Martin Luther King Jr</a>. gave the keynote speech at this event, which reinforced his role as a new key leader in the civil rights movement.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00651350/">View original</a>.
05/17/1957
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
Colton Atlas, 1855, showing former sites of slave trade bordering the National Mall
<a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/475">Slave trading</a> establishments in Washington, DC are superimposed on this 1855 Atlas of Washington, DC to show the locations of a few of the many slave trading establishments in the city. Businesses flourished on the Mall's borders including slave traders who operated from hotels, auction houses, and taverns until the trade was abolished in the District of Columbia in 1850. South of the Mall, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/45">the Yellow House</a> and <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/46">Robey's</a> were notoriously cruel slave pens. North of the Mall, sales at auction houses flourished, promoted in local newspaper advertisements.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=G.+W.+Colton">G. W. Colton</a>
David Rumsey Map Collection. <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/bnh397">View original</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=45&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=New+York%3A+J.H.+Colton">New York: J.H. Colton</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Residents of Resurrection City
In this photo, residents of <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/207">Resurrection City</a> 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 <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/62">Korean War Memorial</a>. This demonstration was part of the 1968 Poor People's Campaign envisioned by <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/90">Martin Luther King Jr</a>. and organized by <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/98">Ralph Abernathy</a> to protest for meaningful jobs and living wages. That spring was particularly rainy causing serious issues with mud, flooding, and sanitation for the demonstrators on the Mall.
Internal Archive, National Park Service.
1968
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
Resurrection City
Resurrection City, organized by <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/98">Ralph Abernathy</a>, was part of the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, a demonstration for full employment and living wages. During May 1968 thousands of <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/241">demonstrators</a> representing communities across the country lived in a shantytown of plywood and canvas homes south of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/23">Reflecting Pool</a>. Intense rainfall flooded the encampment and internal dissension plagued the city. Resurrection City's Park Permit expired on June 23. The next day, police moved through the area, tearing down the buildings and arresting nearly 300 people. Sometimes remembered as a failure, Resurrection City nonetheless brought together many disparate groups to work toward common goals.
Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University. <a href="https://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/7713">View original</a>.
05/21/1968-06/24/1968
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
Tidal Basin Beach Closes
The public bathing beach at the Tidal Basin closed in 1925 <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/211">after less than a decade in operation</a>. This swimming area was segregated, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/164">open only to whites</a>. Congress controlled the Washington DC budget and received increasing pressure from the African American community to create a beach for African Americans on the Tidal Basin, equivalent to the white beach. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/174">Although Congress approved funding for a second beach, debate within Congress halted progress on its creation</a>. As the conflict intensified, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/185">funding for both beaches was canceled</a> and Congress ordered the demolition of the white beach.
1925
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1920-1949">1920-1949</a>