Radical Roots: Public History and a Tradition of Social Justice Activism

The sentiments of “Black Power” infiltrated all aspects of culture, where art, literature, and fashion aesthetics encompassed celebrating and dignifying blackness.

Carver Theater, first home of the Anacostia Museum, 1967. The Smithsonian’s secretary,
S. Dillon Ripley, sought to reach a neglected audience by creating a new museum
in a rented theater that had closed in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington,
DC, about four miles from the National Mall. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image
#92-1790.

Residents were involved in readying the museum building for its grand opening, and continued to influence concepts for its exhibitions and programs in collaboration with museum staff.

The Anacostia Neighborhood developed exhibitions and programs relevant to residents’ experiences.

Facade of 97 Orchard Street, circa 1994. Collection of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

The Rogarshevsky family outside 97 Orchard Street, ca. 1910–25. Images like these helped bring the social history of the immigrant working-class to life by personalizing it as one lived and produced by real, relatable people. Museum Visitors Collection of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Image of the restored Baldizzi apartment kitchen, circa 1995. Collection of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Fannie Rogarshevsky on the roof of 97 Orchard Street. Images like these helped bring the social history of the immigrant working-class to life by personalizing it as one lived and produced by real, relatable people. Collection of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

To support his own claim to the Lower East Side’s immigrant and working-class history, Lou Holtzman, co-owner of 99 Orchard Street, posted photographs of his family on his anti–Tenement Museum website, http://tenementnauseum.com. This photograph of his mother, Frances, was taken outside 99 Orchard Street in 1939 and recalls similar images of Tenement Museum “alumni.” Courtesy of Lou Holtzman.

Protestors lined up outside 97 and 99 Orchard Street during the eminent domain battle. This rally included many of the employees of Congee Village, the restaurant on the ground floor of 99 Orchard Street. (The entrance of the restaurant faces Allen Street.) Courtesy of Tenant.net.

Lower East Siders organize in the empty lot at Fifth Street and Avenue C in 1988 to protest rising speculation and gentrification. Courtesy of Marlis Momber.

Nicole Moore works in the slave garden at Historic Brattonsville. Courtesy of Nicole A. Moore

Nicole Moore prepares meat during a living history event at Magolia Plantation & Gardens. Courtesy of Nicole A. Moore

Nicole Moore presents at 2011 NCPH Annual Meeting. Courtesy of Nicole A. Moore

Exterior of the Kokoro Assisted Living building, formerly the Bush Street Temple, February 2012. Photograph by Kristen Baldwin Deathridge.

Interior of Kokoro, former Bush Street Temple worship space, February 2010. Photograph by Kristen Baldwin Deathridge.

Lincoln Heights School, current front entrance (this was the rear of the building when it was a school), September 2015. Photograph by Kristen Baldwin Deathridge.

Members of the LHRC, students in an Introduction to Historic Preservation graduate course, and Kristen Baldwin Deathridge, with “This Place Matters” flag from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, September 2015. Courtesy of Kristen Baldwin Deathridge.

The Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble performs at the Germantown United CDD Second Saturday Festival, July 8, 2017 Photo by Craig Stutman

Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse in the 1950s