What to expect from the DC History Conference

WASHINGTON — The 49th Annual DC History Conference, co-presented by the DC History Center, the DC Public Library, and HumanitiesDC, returns this week with a compelling series of illuminating discussions. The community event takes place from Thursday, March 23 to Saturday, March 25, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

The program will feature more than 100 presenters across 25 sessions, panels, and presentations that focus on disenfranchisement, Black women’s experience under slavery, displacement, and the fight for disability rights, among others. The event is free to all attendees, but online pre-registration is required. To see the detailed schedule and register, go to conference.dchistory.org.

“Each year, we bring our communities together for engaging conversations, using the tools of local history to shed light on the urgent issues we face today,” said Laura Brower Hagood, DC History Center Executive Director. “Everyone who calls themselves a Washingtonian will find something to spark their curiosity and broaden their perspective on our fascinating city.”

Speakers represent various backgrounds and expertise, from university professors to actors, from anthropologists to journalists and from government leaders to community organizers. 

The three-day event opens on Thursday, March 23, with the Letitia Woods Brown Lecture. Dr. Tamika Nunley, author of "At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C." and associate professor of history at Cornell University, discusses Black women’s history as American history.

A panel on Friday, March 24 highlights DC’s history of disenfranchisement, illuminating the federal government’s heavy-handed role in governing the District. On Saturday, March 25, the conference concludes with a 50th Anniversary Remembrance of The DC Home Rule Act of 1973 panel, featuring veterans of the fight for Home Rule, Arrington Dixon and Carol Schwartz.

More information on the in-person conference schedule and speakers can be found at conference.dchistory.org.