Two years ago this summer, we wrote to you:
“In our city and across the nation, Americans are standing together against a long history of inequality and violence toward people of color. They are demanding political change and meaningful reform to address the institutional racism and pervasive injustices that African Americans especially face every day.”
As protesters called for a public reckoning with the persistent legacy of slavery, this triggered a transformative learning process for the DC History Center. We are still on that path. We are also now at a point where we would like to share some of our experience with you.
Since 2020, our team has drawn from a number of resources to explore issues of Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility and their direct relevance to our work. We retained a professional facilitator, Equity through Action, to guide our strategic planning. We sought to better represent our community on our team, our contractors, and our board. Most recently, and as an outcome of our strategic planning, we took on the task of writing a formal JEDI statement, at the suggestion of our education manager, Domonique Spear.
That is what we would like to share with you today.
Our JEDI statement includes three parts. First, an acknowledgment of the ways in which our organization has fallen short. Second, an explanation of how we believe we can make a difference now. And third, a set of commitments, including a promise to communicate these results yearly.
We propose to you that the DC History Center contributes towards just outcomes for Washingtonians of color and other historically marginalized groups by exposing the historical roots of current inequities and honoring agency, resistance, and resilience. We aspire to be an inclusive and welcoming convener, using the tools of history to put our audience members in conversation with each other, while encouraging learning and empathy.
We urge our stakeholders—as engaged citizens, taxpayers, educators, and leaders—to use these insights to support equitable outcomes including but not limited to housing, education, and policing.
Today, we ask for your help not only in achieving these goals, but also in holding us accountable. We acknowledge that we are still learning and that we have made mistakes in the past. It may sometimes be uncomfortable, but that will be the sign that we are growing, stretching, and reaching to be the best DC History Center we can be.
In today’s special edition of the newsletter, we have brought together lessons learned from our collaboration with the Rainbow History Project and the U.S. Naval Academy, as well as the Latinx Outreach Working Group. In the future, we will also share with you how we are rethinking K-12 education, as well as reshaping our collections policies, among other changes.
No aspect of the DC History Center has been left unchanged by this work.
It goes without saying that we welcome your feedback. Please email me at lhagood@dchistory.org if you have comments or suggestions you would like to share. We look forward to hearing from you, always.