Dunbar High Schools students, 1949.
It’s almost here! The DC History Center’s new exhibit Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital opens to the public on Saturday, June 28. The family-friendly, interactive exhibition will showcase the ways in which DC parents, students, teachers, advocates, and activists have fought to ensure educational opportunities for Black children in the District for over two centuries. Class Action is curated by Historian Erica Sterling, who also serves as an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia.
About the Exhibit
The story of education in DC will be told through a variety of images, text, oral histories, and interactive elements. Families will find old-fashioned chalkboards, a library nook, a costume locker, and playful vintage furniture. School-related props will take adults down memory lane and introduce children to classroom staples from yesteryear.
Class Action spans the antebellum period to the 2000s, highlighting the creation of a segregated public school system for Black Washingtonians after Emancipation, a pivotal moment when Congress established a publicly funded school system for all. The result was two systems: one white and one Black. Discrimination prevented college-educated African Americans, many with multiple degrees, from obtaining careers in their chosen fields, so they came to DC and taught in the Black school system. Combined with Howard University’s prestige, which attracted Black students and scholars, and DC’s position as the nation’s capital, the city soon gained a national reputation for excellent Black schools in spite of segregation.
Courtesy Library of Congress
Black Washingtonians fought for equal education for a century, and the fight continued after the Supreme Court’s Bolling v. Sharpe landmark decision desegregated DC schools in 1954. The exhibition will also point out the ways in which structural issues in society affected resources, communities, and policies, and how parental activism was foundational to creating change that benefitted all students.
“The world we live in didn’t magically materialize. The neighborhoods we frequent, the schools we attend—many decisions accumulated over time to create the society we live in today,” says Class Action Curator Erica Sterling. “The history of DC offers a window into that reality and invites visitors, no matter where they’re from, into a shared experience of learning about the past to help inform how we imagine the future.”
Shaw Junior High School, 5202 Jay St NW, 1949. Courtesy Library of Congress
Class Action will also shed light on important figures who led the way for education in DC. Examples include author, educator, sociologist and Black liberation activist Anna Julia Cooper; Gardner Bishop, a barber who became known for his championing of civil rights and equal schools; and Joyce Garrett, a music teacher and choir director who nurtured the artistic and academic aspirations of her students. (Read more about these figures below!)
“The exhibit explores hard history, and it invites hands-on exploration of what it means to grow up with the nation’s capital as your hometown,” says Laura Brower Hagood, Executive Director of the DC History Center. “From taking a selfie with a giant image of the John Phillip Sousa Junior High School Class of 1976, to trying on Elgin Baylor‘s high school basketball uniform, to learning about pivotal figures in local educational history whose impact reached across the country, we hope that Class Action sparks cross-generational conversations about how school experiences shape us all.”
Visiting the Exhibit
Class Action will open in the West Gallery space and is the DC History Center’s first major exhibition since 2019. It will be on display through 2030. The exhibit will serve as an anchor for public programming, K-12 field trips, and professional development for teachers. The exhibit is free and open to the public. In its first weekend, the exhibit will be open to the public Saturday, June 28 from 2pm to 6pm. Members will have the opportunity for a special preview that morning from 11am to 2pm. Sunday’s hours are 12pm to 6pm. Following the opening, regular exhibit hours will be Thursday-Sunday from 12pm to 6pm.
Thank you to our sponsors
Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital is made possible thanks to the District of Columbia Executive Office of the Mayor–Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development; the Institute for Museum and Library Services; Events DC; the Kiplinger Family Foundation; and the Julie B. Koczela Exhibit Fund.