Henrietta Vinton Davis (1860-1941) was an elocutionist and dramatic actor who later in life worked closely with Marcus Garvey as a leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), a self-reliance movement. Davis’s speeches boosted…

Mary McLeod Bethune began traveling to D.C. from her native Florida after her election as president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1924. After creating a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1905 and…

Uncompromising feminist Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) devoted her life to improving the career prospects for women and girls. She often went up against men who could not imagine women in leadership positions and, throughout her career,…

So chronicled newspaper columnist William Raspberry upon the death of Billy Simpson (1914-1975), owner of Billy Simpson’s House of Seafood and Steaks. Indeed, between 1958 and his death, Billy Simpson and his restaurant played a central role in the…

Thomas Beall constructed this large Federal house, typical of Northeastern seacoast mansions, as an investment in about 1794. From 1916 to 1920, it was the residence of Newton Diehl Baker, considered by some historians to be among the most…

Built in 1836, Ashburton House served as a home for British diplomats. For instance, the residence hosted the ten month American-British negotiations that eventually led to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which resolved the long-standing…

Built in 1828, this home served as Benjamin Ogle Tayloe's residence and a social, intellectual, and cultural center for the political elite. Described as a "salon" for scholarly discourse and a space for high-society gatherings, the Federal style…