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101-488: Montgomery Gregory, a native of Washington, D.C. , was key in cultivating and nurturing the concept of a National Negro Theatre Movement during the early decades of the 20th century against the backdrop of an 80-year-old minstrel tradition and the popularity of Black-themed dramatic works by white writers, underscored by the commercially fledgling efforts of Black playwrights in America. At Howard University , Gregory founded

202-495: A cascading waterfall with Italian Renaissance -style architecture. Modern , Postmodern , contemporary , and other non-classical architectural styles are also seen in the city. The National Museum of African American History and Culture deeply contrasts the stone-based neoclassical buildings on the National Mall with a design that combines modern engineering with heavy inspiration from African art . The interior of

303-509: A referendum on D.C. statehood resulted in an 85% support among Washington, D.C., voters for it to become the nation's 51st state . In March 2017, the city's congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill for statehood. Reintroduced in 2019 and 2021 as the Washington, D.C., Admission Act , the U.S. House of Representatives passed it in April 2021. After not progressing in

404-702: A Howard University scholar and administrator, also enjoyed relative success under Gregory’s tutelage with a Players production of “Within the Shadow” in 1920. Writer/choreographer Ottie Beatrice Graham , another member of the drama program and Gregory's student, wrote at least two of her one-act plays while in his class, “The King’s Carpenters” (1921), which appeared in The Stylus , and “Holiday,” later published in Crisis . In 1927, Gregory contributed “The Negro in Drama” to

505-585: A Woman: And Other Poems (Boston: Cornhill, 1918) Introduction to A. E. Housman , A Shropshire Lad (Boston: Four Seas , 1919) The Story of the Great War (New York: Frederick Stokes, 1919) Introduction to B. 8266, Penitentiary, A Tale of a Walled Town: and Other Verses (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1921) Introduction to Brookes More, The Beggar's Vision (Boston: Cornhill, 1921) Introduction to J. Corson Miller, Veils of Samite (Boston: Small, Maynard, 1921) Forward to Maud Cuney-Hare, The Message of

606-550: A critically acclaimed forum for student-written plays and performances. George Pierce Baker of the 47 Workshop at Harvard University cited The Howard Players as one of the two most creative college theatre companies in the United States, with The Carolina Playmakers of the University of North Carolina being the other. Gregory was educated at Williston Seminary (1902-1906), then Harvard University , graduating in

707-408: A garden-lined grand avenue about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 400 feet (120 m) wide in an area that is now the National Mall inspired by the grounds at Versailles and Tuileries Gardens. In March 1792, President Washington dismissed L'Enfant due to conflicts with the three commissioners appointed to supervise the capital's construction. Andrew Ellicott , who worked with L'Enfant in surveying

808-541: A long battle with leukemia , in Washington's Sibley Hospital , November 21, 1971. Gregory was the maternal great-grandfather of actress and comedian Aisha Tyler . His wife Hugh Ella was the granddaughter of U.S. congressman John Hancock . Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C. , is the capital city and federal district of

909-502: A modern glass exterior and heavy curvature. CityCenterDC is home to Palmer Alley, a pedestrian-only walkway, and houses several apartment buildings, restaurants, and luxury-brand storefronts with streamlined glass and metal facades. Outside Downtown D.C., architectural styles are more varied. Historic buildings are designed primarily in the Queen Anne , Châteauesque , Richardsonian Romanesque , Georgian Revival , Beaux-Arts , and

1010-623: A position as Supervisor of Negro Schools, and later Principal, in Atlantic City, New Jersey , which offered "a broader field of service and a very considerable increase of salary."10 Locke exited the university the following year, returning at a later time. In New Jersey, Gregory continued to promote Negro drama. In 1929 he undertook a tour of the South lecturing at eight State summer schools on educational and community drama. In 1956, he retired, and in 1960 returned to Washington. Gregory died after

1111-455: A professorship of creative literature at the historically black Atlanta University . He retired from this position in 1945. In 1946, he and his family moved to Sugar Hill in Harlem , New York where Braithwaite continued to write and publish poetry, essays and anthologies. He was often alienated from his colleagues at the university due to his lack of any formal education or degrees and what

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1212-431: A relatively high homelessness rate, despite its high living standard compared to many American cities. Washington, D.C., is divided into four quadrants of unequal area: Northwest (NW) , Northeast (NE) , Southeast (SE) , and Southwest (SW) . The axes bounding the quadrants radiate from the U.S. Capitol. All road names include the quadrant abbreviation to indicate their location. House numbers generally correspond with

1313-595: A snowstorm in January 1772. Hurricanes or their remnants occasionally impact the area in late summer and early fall. However, they usually are weak by the time they reach Washington, partly due to the city's inland location. Flooding of the Potomac River , however, caused by a combination of high tide, storm surge, and runoff, has been known to cause extensive property damage in the Georgetown neighborhood of

1414-676: A special committee charged with beautifying Washington's ceremonial core. What became known as the McMillan Plan was finalized in 1901 and included relandscaping the Capitol grounds and the National Mall, clearing slums, and establishing a new citywide park system. The plan is thought to have largely preserved L'Enfant's intended design for the city. By law, the city's skyline is low and sprawling. The federal Height of Buildings Act of 1910 prohibits buildings with height exceeding

1515-633: A stream valley that bisects the city. Established in 1890, it is the country's fourth-oldest national park and is home to a variety of plant and animal species, including raccoon, deer, owls, and coyotes. Other National Park Service properties include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park , the National Mall and Memorial Parks , Theodore Roosevelt Island , Columbia Island , Fort Dupont Park , Meridian Hill Park , Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens , and Anacostia Park . The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation maintains

1616-473: A variety of Victorian styles. Rowhouses are prominent in areas developed after the Civil War and typically follow Federal and late Victorian designs. Georgetown 's Old Stone House , built in 1765, is the oldest-standing building in the city. Founded in 1789, Georgetown University features a mix of Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture . The Ronald Reagan Building is the largest building in

1717-471: A wealthy British Guiana family; his mother was the daughter of a North Carolina slave." His father preferred that the children be educated at home, and until his untimely death, they were raised in a genteel household of means. Braithwaite married Emma Kelly in 1903; they had seven children. He died at his home at 409 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem after a brief illness on June 8, 1962. At the age of 12, upon

1818-469: Is Confusion (1924). Here he appears, exclusively, to advocate — at least on the consumer end — Black art, primarily, for Black audiences: "If our poets, novelists, and dramatists are to succeed we must form a large reading public for the products of their pens. Let the slogan be: Read the works of our own writers first!”7 The range of Gregory’s ideas and influences were also evident in his work with Howard's student dramatists. "[At Howard University] an attempt

1919-418: Is being made to build a structure of native Negro drama, to be interpreted by people of that race," wrote Leonard Hall, a Washington D.C. theater critic, citing the works of then-student Helen Webb (“Genefrede”), and Howard alumna De Reath Irene Byrd Beausey (“The Yellow Tree”), as cornerstones of an emerging "native Negro drama."Poet, playwright, anthologist, and educator May Miller , daughter of Kelly Miller ,

2020-911: Is generally popular among tourists and locals. In 2007, six of the top ten buildings in the American Institute of Architects ' ranking of America's Favorite Architecture were in the city: the White House , Washington National Cathedral , the Jefferson Memorial , the United States Capitol , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial . The neoclassical , Georgian , Gothic , and Modern styles are reflected among these six structures and many other prominent edifices in

2121-480: Is in plant hardiness zone 8a near downtown, and zone 7b elsewhere in the city. Summers are hot and humid with a July daily average of 79.8 °F (26.6 °C) and average daily relative humidity around 66%, which can cause moderate personal discomfort. Heat indices regularly approach 100 °F (38 °C) at the height of summer. The combination of heat and humidity in the summer brings very frequent thunderstorms, some of which occasionally produce tornadoes in

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2222-452: Is known as a lobbying hub, with K Street as the industry center. The city had 20.7 million domestic visitors and 1.2 million international visitors, ranking seventh among U.S. cities as of 2022. The Algonquian -speaking Piscataway people , also known as the Conoy, inhabited the lands around the Potomac River and present-day Washington, D.C., when Europeans first arrived and colonized

2323-477: Is sea level at the Potomac River. The geographic center of Washington is near the intersection of 4th and L streets NW. The district has 7,464 acres (30.21 km ) of parkland, about 19% of the city's total area, the second-highest among high-density U.S. cities after Philadelphia . The city's sizable parkland was a factor in the city being ranked as third in the nation for park access and quality in

2424-499: The Anacostia River to the east. Washington, D.C.'s street grid was extended, where possible, throughout the district starting in 1888. Georgetown's streets were renamed in 1895. Some streets are particularly noteworthy, including Pennsylvania Avenue , which connects the White House to the Capitol; and K Street, which houses the offices of many lobbying groups. Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue , located on

2525-634: The Brontës , Coward-McCann, 1950. The William Stanley Braithwaite Reader , edited by Philip Butcher (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1972) The House Under Artcthurus . Unfinished autobiography published in part in the periodical Phylon (1941-1942). Book of Elizabethan Verse with an introduction by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Boston: Herbert B. Turner, 1906) Book of Georgian Verse ( London: Grant Richards, 1909) Book of Restoration Verse (New York: Brentanos and London: Duckworth, 1910) Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1913: Including

2626-646: The Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which ended slavery in the district, freeing about 3,100 slaves in the district nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation . In 1868, Congress granted the district's African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections. By 1870, the district's population had grown 75% in a decade to nearly 132,000 people, yet the city still lacked paved roads and basic sanitation. Some members of Congress suggested moving

2727-714: The Continental Congress and under the Articles of Confederation . New York City was the first capital upon the adoption of the Constitution , succeeded by Philadelphia , which was capital from 1790 to 1800. On October 6, 1783, after the capital was forced by the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 to move to Princeton, Congress resolved to consider a new location for it. The following day, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts moved "that buildings for

2828-756: The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 , which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. The area within the district was organized into two counties, the County of Washington to the east and north of the Potomac and the County of Alexandria to the west and south. After the Act's passage, citizens in the district were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which ended their representation in Congress. On August 24, 1814, during

2929-688: The National Mall , including the Jefferson Memorial , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Washington Monument . It hosts 177 foreign embassies and serves as the headquarters for the World Bank , the International Monetary Fund , the Organization of American States , and other international organizations. Home to many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks , D.C.

3030-548: The Northeast megalopolis . As the seat of the U.S. federal government , the city is an important world political capital . The city hosts the buildings that house federal government headquarters, including the White House , the Capitol, the Supreme Court Building , and multiple federal departments and agencies . The city is home to many national monuments and museums , located most prominently on or around

3131-484: The Potomac River forms the district's border with Virginia and has two major tributaries, the Anacostia River and Rock Creek . Tiber Creek , a natural watercourse that once passed through the National Mall , was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s. The creek also formed a portion of the now-filled Washington City Canal , which allowed passage through the city to the Anacostia River from 1815 until

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3232-428: The U.S. East Coast . The city has a total area of 68.34 square miles (177 km ), of which 61.05 square miles (158.1 km ) is land and 7.29 square miles (18.9 km ) (10.67%) is water. The district is bordered by Montgomery County, Maryland , to the northwest; Prince George's County, Maryland , to the east; Arlington County, Virginia , to the west; and Alexandria, Virginia , to the south. The south bank of

3333-461: The United States . The city is on the Potomac River , across from Virginia , and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It was named after George Washington , the first president of the United States . The district is named after Columbia , the female personification of the nation . The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under

3434-637: The War of 1812 , British forces invaded and occupied the city after defeating an American force at Bladensburg . In retaliation for acts of destruction by American troops in the Canadas , the British set fire to government buildings in the city, gutting the United States Capitol , the Treasury Building , and the White House in what became known as the burning of Washington . However, a storm forced

3535-623: The Washington Metro stations and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden are designed with strong influence from the 20th-century Brutalism movement. The Smithsonian Institution Building is built of Seneca red sandstone in the Norman Revival style. The Old Post Office building, located on Pennsylvania Avenue and completed in 1899, was the first building in the city to have a steel frame structure and

3636-908: The World Disarmament Conference . The meritorious events, however, were but steps toward Gregory's National Negro Theatre, for which he groomed young Negro dramatists to provide plays in which Black actors could present Black themes largely for the benefit of Blacks, however, played outside "established theaters in the Negro districts, for that would tend to prevent the white community from seeing their art…" Gregory's contradictions between his "race attitude" dissertation and his efforts to market Black theatre to white audiences in an attempt to create social change, are immutable considerations. On this score, his steady promotion of Black-authored plays of Negro life gives pause for discussion. Consider Gregory's review of Jessie Fauset ’s novel, There

3737-425: The exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress . As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state , and is not one itself. The Residence Act , adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in 1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia . In 1801,

3838-814: The 14th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica . In late winter, Gregory and Locke's Plays of Negro Life was published. The collection of twenty-two works by well-and lesser-known playwrights includes Howard drama student Thelma Myrtle Duncan's "The Death Dance" and works by Georgia Douglas Johnson , Jean Toomer , Eulalie Spence , Willis Richardson , Richard Bruce , John Matheus, Ernest H. Culbertson, Paul Green , and Eugene O'Neill , with illustrations by artist Aaron Douglas . Both Gregory and Locke refer to themselves in Plays as "formally Professor of …," an ironic gesture since both men had, at some point in their careers, been "encouraged" or forced to leave

3939-529: The 1850s. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal starts in Georgetown and was used during the 19th century to bypass the Little Falls of the Potomac River, located at the northwest edge of the city at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line . The highest natural elevation in the district is 409 feet (125 m) above sea level at Fort Reno Park in upper northwest Washington, D.C. The lowest point

4040-482: The 2018 ParkScore ranking of the park systems of the nation's 100 most populous cities, according to Trust for Public Land , a non-profit organization. The National Park Service manages most of the 9,122 acres (36.92 km ) of city land owned by the U.S. government. Rock Creek Park is a 1,754-acre (7.10 km ) urban forest in Northwest Washington, which extends 9.3 miles (15.0 km) through

4141-454: The Black race in America suffered from the perception of intellectual and artistic inferiority, Gregory argues in this lengthy treatise, but Black leaders of the period, he wrote, undermined Black ascendancy by advancing a negative "race attitude," while encouraging Black people to mimic the tone and texture of Euro-Americanism: "… By race attitude I mean the attitude of the individual members of

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4242-863: The Boston-published The Colored American Magazine . By 1906 he had been accepted as a member of the prestigious Boston Authors Club. From 1905 to 1931 he wrote for the Boston Evening Transcript , contributing columns about contemporary poets and an annual survey of the field. He also wrote articles, reviews and poetry for many other periodicals and journals, including the Atlantic Monthly , The Nation , The New York Times , The New Republic , The Crisis , Opportunity , and The Colored American Magazine . He also began publishing anthologies on poetry of various periods, such as

4343-504: The British to evacuate the city after just 24 hours. Most government buildings were repaired quickly, but the Capitol, which was largely under construction at the time, would not be completed in its current form until 1868. In the 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria declined economically, due in part to its neglect by Congress. Alexandria was a major market in the domestic slave trade and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in

4444-521: The District from its founding. The building of Washington likely relied in significant part on slave labor, and slave receipts have been found for the White House, Capitol Building, and establishment of Georgetown University. The city became an important slave market and a center of the nation's internal slave trade . After its survey, the new federal city was constructed on the north bank of

4545-412: The District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria , was officially recognized as the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia , including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for

4646-484: The District of Columbia. Shepherd authorized large projects that modernized the city but bankrupted its government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member board of commissioners. In 1888, the city's first motorized streetcars began service. Their introduction generated growth in areas of the district beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries, leading to an expansion of

4747-556: The Federal District to about the size of the national mall. Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant , the city is divided into quadrants , which are centered around the Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods . As of the 2020 census , the city had a population of 689,545. Commuters from the city's Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during

4848-541: The Georgian and Elizabethan eras. The surveys that Braithwaite published in the Boston Evening Transcript led him to begin his most important life work: publishing an annual anthology of "Magazine Verse". These anthologies covered a wide range of poets, from the conservative to the avant-garde, the established to the new, as well as an introduction in which Braithwaite discussed his perspective on

4949-520: The Great War (juvenile; essays), F. A. Stokes, 1919 Going Over Tindal: A Fragment Wrenched From the Life of Titus Jabson (novel), B. J. Brimmer, 1924 Frost on the Green Leaf (short stories) Lyrics of Life and Love (Boston: H. B. Turner, 1904) The House of Falling Leaves (Boston: J. W. Luce, 1908) Selected Poems (New York: Coward-McCann, 1948) Preface, V. Stanley Milliken, Songs of

5050-569: The Jacobean”), as well as other productions, Gregory aroused the interest of national theater critics with a performance of Eugene O’Neill's " The Emperor Jones " before a non-segregated audience at the Shubert-Belasco Theatre in Washington, D.C. Most extraordinary was the presence of Charles Gilpin , America's most celebrated Negro actor of the period, recreating the title role for which he, that same year, had been named one of

5151-491: The Negro race to the race itself. For instead of cultivating a race pride, a race self-respect, a race consciousness, we have sought to un-race ourselves, to avoid whatever might definitely associate us with the Negro race. Even the name itself is to many a stigma and an insult! Goaded by injustice and prejudice we have sought to offset them by disowning the race.” In March 1921, after successful runs of works by Lord Dunsany (“The Lost Silk Hat”) and Booth Tarkington (“Beauty and

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5252-688: The Nomad: Some Posthumous Poems (Providence: Printed by F. H. Townsend, 1907) Introduction, Charles Gibson, The Wounded Eros: Sonnets (Cambridge: Riverside Press , 1908) Preface, The Poetry of Thomas S. Jones, Jr (Clinton, NY: George William Browning, 1910) Introduction to Edward Smyth Jones, The Sylvan Cabin: A Centenary Ode on the Birth of Lincoln and Other Verses (Boston: Sherman French, 1911) The Poetic Year for 1916: A Critical Anthology (Boston: Small, Maynard, 1917) Introduction to Georgia Douglas Johnson , The Heart of

5353-444: The Potomac River, to the east of Georgetown centered on Capitol Hill . On September 9, 1791, three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The same day, the federal district was named Columbia, a feminine form of Columbus , which was a poetic name for the United States commonly used at that time. Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800. Congress passed

5454-462: The Residence Act, the exact location was to be selected by President George Washington , who signed the bill into law on July 16, 1790. Formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side and totaling 100 square miles (259 km ). Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory,

5555-523: The Senate, the statehood bill was introduced again in January 2023. The bill would have made D.C. into a state with one representative and two senators, with the name Washington, Douglas Commonwealth (thus keeping the same abbreviation Washington, D.C.). The legalities, reasons, and impact of statehood have been heavily debated in the 2020s. Washington, D.C., is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of

5656-601: The Trees (Boston: Cornhill, 1921) John Myers O'Hara and the Grecian Influence (Portland, ME: Smith and Sale, 1926) Introduction to Rosa Zagnioni Marinoni and Mary Carolyn Davies, Red Kites and Wooden Crosses (Chicago: Packard, 1929) Introduction to Mae Cowdery, WE Lift Our Voices and Other poems (Philadelphia: Alpress, 1936) Biographical essay in S. S. Van Dine, Philo Vance Murder Cases (New York, London: Scribner's, 1936) The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of

5757-911: The United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the Electoral College for the election of president and vice president, but still not affording the city's residents representation in Congress. After the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in the city , primarily in the U ;Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, which were predominantly black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until more than 13,600 federal troops and Washington, D.C., Army National Guardsmen stopped

5858-610: The acclaimed college theater troupe, The Howard Players. Formerly, the university's theatre interests were served by the College Dramatic Club, developed in 1909 by English instructor Ernest Just and a group of students. Gregory was the organizer of the Howard University Department of Dramatic Art and Public Speaking in 1921 and co-creator with Alain Locke of The Stylus literary club. Gregory

5959-513: The already-implemented L'Enfant Plan , with the new McMillan Plan leading urban development in the city throughout the movement. Much of the old Victorian Mall was replaced with modern Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architecture ; these designs are still prevalent in the city's governmental buildings today. Increased federal spending under the New Deal in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in

6060-504: The area. Blizzards affect Washington once every four to six years on average. The most violent storms, known as nor'easters , often impact large regions of the East Coast . From January 27 to 28, 1922 , the city officially received 28 inches (71 cm) of snowfall, the largest snowstorm since official measurements began in 1885. According to notes kept at the time, the city received between 30 and 36 inches (76 and 91 cm) from

6161-461: The arts as a means for social change. He articulated his "empowerment through artistic achievement" framework in "Race in Art," an article for The Citizen, a Boston-based magazine, published in 1915 by Charles F. Lane, with Gregory, George W. Ellis, and William Stanley Braithwaite serving as editorial board members. "If art is self-expression, it is necessarily race expression," wrote Gregory. Not only had

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6262-503: The capital farther west, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to consider the proposal. In the Organic Act of 1871 , Congress repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown , abolished Washington County , and created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. These steps made "the city of Washington...legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia." In 1873, President Grant appointed Alexander Robey Shepherd as Governor of

6363-414: The capital. In the Compromise of 1790 , Madison, Alexander Hamilton , and Thomas Jefferson agreed that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the Southern United States . On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act , which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River . Under

6464-437: The celebrated Class of 1910 which included T. S. Eliot , Walter Lippmann and John Reed . His father, James Monroe Gregory , who transferred from Oberlin College in 1868 to become the first student enrolled in Howard University's College Department, was in the university's first graduating class of three men, and stayed on as a member of the faculty. His mother, Fannie Emma Hagan, a former Howard student of Madagascan descent,

6565-494: The city's 900 acres (3.6 km ) of athletic fields and playgrounds, 40 swimming pools, and 68 recreation centers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates the 446-acre (1.80 km ) United States National Arboretum in Northeast Washington, D.C. Washington's climate is humid subtropical ( Köppen : Cfa ), or oceanic ( Trewartha : Do bordering Cf downtown). Winters are cool to cold with some snow of varying intensity, while summers are hot and humid. The district

6666-455: The city's classical-style architecture include buildings constructed in the French Second Empire style, including the Eisenhower Executive Office Building , and the modernist Watergate complex . The Thomas Jefferson Building , the main Library of Congress building, and the historic Willard Hotel are built in Beaux-Arts style , popular throughout the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Meridian Hill Park contains

6767-421: The city, was then tasked with completing its design. Though Ellicott revised the original L'Enfant plans, including changing some street patterns, L'Enfant is still credited with the city's overall design. By the early 20th century, however, L'Enfant's vision of a grand national capital was marred by slums and randomly placed buildings in the city, including a railroad station on the National Mall. Congress formed

6868-530: The city. Many of the government buildings, monuments, and museums along the National Mall and surrounding areas are heavily inspired by classical Roman and Greek architecture. The designs of the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court Building , Washington Monument , National Gallery of Art , Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial are all heavily drawn from these classical architectural movements and feature large pediments, domes, columns in classical order, and heavy stone walls. Notable exceptions to

6969-406: The city. Precipitation occurs throughout the year. The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 6, 1918, and on July 20, 1930. The lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 11, 1899 , right before the Great Blizzard of 1899 . During a typical year, the city averages about 37 days at or above 90 °F (32 °C) and 64 nights at or below

7070-758: The current state of poetry. The works published were culled from both commercial magazines and modernist little magazines . They also included indexes of published verse and other information that provided insight into publishing trends of the day. Braithwaite indicated favored works in these lists with an asterisk, establishing in this way his own "canon" of poets and poems. Though Braithwaite has been received with ambivalence by African-American critics from his own lifetime to today for his lack of discussion of African-American issues in both his verse and anthologies, his anthologies are notable for their inclusion of African-American writers. The success and influence of Braithwaite's anthology series may be seen in its growing length:

7171-464: The death of his father, Braithwaite was forced to quit school to support his family. When he was aged 15 he was apprenticed to a typesetter for the Boston publisher , Ginn & Co., where he discovered an affinity for lyric poetry and began to write his own poems. After early publications in periodicals, he published his first collection of 63 poems, Lyrics of Life and Love , at the age of 26 in 1904. From 1901 to 1902, Braithwaite served as an editor of

7272-482: The district . Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to retake the land it had donated to form the district, a process known as retrocession . The Virginia General Assembly voted in February 1846, to accept the return of Alexandria. On July 9, 1846, Congress went further, agreeing to return all territory that Virginia had ceded to the district during its formation. This left the district's area consisting only of

7373-497: The district over the next few decades. Georgetown's street grid and other administrative details were formally merged with those of the City of Washington in 1895. However, the city had poor housing and strained public works, leading it to become the first city in the nation to undergo urban renewal projects as part of the City Beautiful movement in the early 20th century. The City Beautiful movement built heavily upon

7474-419: The district with a total area of about 3.1 million square feet (288,000 m ). Washington Union Station is designed in a combination of architectural styles. Its Great Hall has elaborate gold leaf designs along the ceilings and the hall includes several decorative classical-style statues. William Stanley Braithwaite William Stanley Beaumont Braithwaite (December 6, 1878 – June 8, 1962)

7575-523: The district, though the chairman of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations, Ross A. Collins of Mississippi , justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents by saying that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on niggers." World War II led to an expansion of federal employees in the city; by 1950, the district's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents. The Twenty-third Amendment to

7676-473: The federal level, politically disenfranchised since the city's residents do not have voting representation in Congress; the city's residents elect a single non-voting congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment , passed in 1961. Washington, D.C. anchors the southern end of

7777-470: The first director of the newly organized division of Dramatic Art and Public Speaking. "During the period from 1919 to 1925, drama at the university reached a peak both financially and technically."2 It was during those years that Gregory began orchestrating his dream of a National Negro Theatre. Early in Gregory's career, he began to formulate the notion that the Black race could, and should necessarily, use

7878-684: The first to use electrical wiring in its design. Notable contemporary residential buildings, restaurants, shops, and office buildings in the city include the Wharf on the Southwest Waterfront , Navy Yard along the Anacostia River , and CityCenterDC in Downtown . The Wharf has seen the construction of several high-rise office and residential buildings overlooking the Potomac River . Additionally, restaurants, bars, and shops have been opened at street level. Many of these buildings have

7979-457: The first was 87 pages in length, while the 15th reached more than 1,000. Though influential, however, the anthologies were not moneymakers; they were published by five different houses over the years, and unlike some anthologies of the time, did not receive payment for including a poet's work. Braithwaite launched a periodical, Poetry Journal , in December 1912, but not long after, handed off

8080-404: The freezing mark (32 °F or 0 °C). On average, the first day with a minimum at or below freezing is November 18 and the last day is March 27. Washington, D.C., was a planned city , and many of the city's street grids were developed in that initial plan. In 1791, President George Washington commissioned Pierre Charles L'Enfant , a French-born military engineer and artist, to design

8181-704: The helm of the Bordentown Industrial and Manual Training School . In 1910, after completing his studies at Harvard University, Montgomery Gregory was appointed English Instructor at Howard, rising quickly to Professor and, in 1919, Head of department. In 1918, he married Hugh Ella Hancock of Austin, Texas . Their offspring were writer/poet Yvonne (deceased), Thomas Montgomery Jr. (deceased), Hugh Hancock (deceased), Eugene Chandler (deceased), Mignon (deceased), and writer/former television producer Sheila Gregory Thomas, who resides in Washington, D.C. In 1919, Gregory organized The Howard Players, and in 1921 became

8282-535: The histrionic ability of Charles Gilpin has been as effective as the dramatic genius of Eugene O'Neill – the serious play of Negro life broke through to public favor and critical recognition." With the notion of introducing the evolving artistry of the Negro to the world stage, in 1921 Gregory also organized a performance of Ridgely Torrence 's “Simon, the Cyrenian” by the Howard Players for the delegates to

8383-469: The need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution permits the establishment of a "District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States". However, the constitution does not specify a location for

8484-496: The new capital. He enlisted the help of Isaac Roberdeau, Étienne Sulpice Hallet and Scottish surveyor Alexander Ralston to help lay out the city plan. The L'Enfant Plan featured broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing room for open space and landscaping. L'Enfant was also provided a roll of maps by Thomas Jefferson depicting Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Paris, Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Turin, and Milan. L'Enfant's design also envisioned

8585-552: The north and south sides of the National Mall, respectively, are home to many of Washington's iconic museums, including many Smithsonian Institution buildings and the National Archives Building . Washington hosts 177 foreign embassies ; these maintain nearly 300 buildings and more than 1,600 residential properties, many of which are on a section of Massachusetts Avenue informally known as Embassy Row . The architecture of Washington, D.C., varies greatly and

8686-404: The number of blocks away from the Capitol. Most streets are set out in a grid pattern with east–west streets named with letters (e.g., C Street SW), north–south streets with numbers (e.g., 4th Street NW), and diagonal avenues, many of which are named after states . The City of Washington was bordered on the north by Boundary Street (renamed Florida Avenue in 1890); Rock Creek to the west, and

8787-568: The port of Georgetown , founded in 1751, and the port city of Alexandria, Virginia , founded in 1749. In 1791 and 1792, a team led by Andrew Ellicott , including Ellicott's brothers Joseph and Benjamin and African American astronomer Benjamin Banneker , whose parents had been enslaved, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point; many of these stones are still standing. Both Maryland and Virginia were slave states , and slavery existed in

8888-538: The portion originally donated by Maryland. Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself. The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 led to the expansion of the federal government and notable growth in the city's population, including a large influx of freed slaves. President Abraham Lincoln signed

8989-455: The project to others. He launched another periodical, the monthly Poetry Review of America , in 1916; this project folded after less than a year. In 1921 he established the B. J. Brimmer publishing company, which published poetry, non-fiction, and anthologies. His business partner and treasurer of the company was the writer and poet Winifred Virginia Jackson , known for her collaborations with H. P. Lovecraft . In 1935, Braithwaite assumed

9090-538: The region in the early 17th century. The Nacotchtank , also called the Nacostines by Catholic missionaries , maintained settlements around the Anacostia River in present-day Washington, D.C. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes ultimately displaced the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland . Nine cities served as capitals to

9191-451: The remaining portion of the district. There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make the district into a state since the 1880s; a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate . To become law it would have to be passed by the Senate and signed by president; it would have renamed the city Washington, Douglas Commonwealth and shrunk

9292-411: The ten best actors for his performance in O'Neill's New York production of the play. The Howard Players performed as the supporting cast before "an audience that was far less in numbers than merited. …" Although "Jones" was the product of a white playwright's vision of a tragic Black figure, Gregory saw the work as an important vehicle toward a sustained, legitimate Negro-centered theater. "...   for

9393-563: The university. Gregory's resignation was tendered in 1912 after an anonymous letter to the university's president accused the 23-year-old professor of a drunken display at a Washington D.C. bar. A "who's who" army of Gregory defenders, which included longtime friend William A. Sinclair and Booker T. Washington , gracefully negotiated on the young professor's behalf. Gregory was reinstated the following year. A second and final resignation came eleven years later, in August 1924, when Gregory opted for

9494-575: The use of Congress be erected on the banks of the Delaware near Trenton , or of the Potomac , near Georgetown , provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers as aforesaid, for a federal town". In Federalist No. 43 , published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety. The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 emphasized

9595-442: The violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned, and rebuilding from the riots was not completed until the late 1990s. In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act providing for an elected mayor and 13-member council for the district. In 1975, Walter Washington became the district's first elected and first black mayor. Since the 1980s, the D.C. statehood movement has grown in prominence. In 2016,

9696-541: The width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet (6.1 m). Despite popular belief, no law has ever limited buildings to the height of the United States Capitol or the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument , which remains the district's tallest structure. City leaders have cited the height restriction as a primary reason that the district has limited affordable housing and its metro area has suburban sprawl and traffic problems. Washington, D.C., still has

9797-407: The workweek. The Washington metropolitan area , which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia , is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area , with a 2023 population of 6.3 million residents. A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C., residents are, on

9898-524: Was an African-American writer , poet , literary critic , anthologist, and publisher in the United States. His work as a critic and anthologist was widely praised and important in the development of East Coast poetry styles in the early 20th century. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1918. Braithwaite was born in Boston , Massachusetts, in 1878. According to Jill Lepore , his father "came from

9999-683: Was an independent-minded woman, who, while a Howard faculty spouse, mentored young students and devoted much of her life to the up-liftment of “colored women.” The family's home on the Howard campus stood on the present site of the Ira Aldridge Theatre. The elder Gregory was instrumental in acquiring the first significant Congressional endowment for Howard. In 1897, the James Monroe Gregory family left Washington, D.C. for Bordentown, New Jersey , where Professor Gregory took

10100-668: Was appointed the first director of the drama department and was joined in his efforts by acting coach Marie Moore Forrest, and stage designer Cleon Throckmorton of the Provincetown Players . The department's course in Pageantry and Drama was the first of its kind in the U.S. to be offered for credit. Through his work at Howard, Gregory generated national interest in legitimate Black drama, collaborating with important playwrights such as Willis Richardson , Paul Green , and Eugene O'Neill , and creating, via The Howard Players,

10201-488: Was seen as his "standoffish" nature. Braithwaite is recognized as having a significant role in publishing Harlem Renaissance poets for a wide audience through his anthologies, despite his own conservatism in discussing race in his own work. In 1927, the poet Countee Cullen dedicated the anthology Caroling Dusk, An Anthology of Negro Poets , to Braithwaite. James Weldon Johnson acknowledged Braithwaite as an influence upon his work. The Canadian (1901) The Story of

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