People's Picks No. 2

In 2023-2025, DC celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Home Rule Act. Passed in 1973, this act authorized District residents to elect their own Mayor, Council, and ANC commissioners, giving the city an elected local government for the first time since home rule was revoked a century earlier. Elections were held in 1974 for terms beginning in January of 1975. These books highlight how local residents fought for self-determination within the constraints imposed by living in the nation’s capital, and reveal the profound impact of this civil rights victory at a time when 70 percent of residents were Black.

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Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital by Chris Myers Asch and Derek Musgrove 

Asch and Musgrove first teamed up to rewrite a DC history syllabus for undergrads at the University of the District of Columbia. They ultimately produced a book that covers the city’s history from its beginnings through the first decade of the 21st century, and that puts residents’ struggle for racial justice and self-determination at the center of every chapter. This deeply researched work is told through stories about the people who lived it, with direct quotes from primary sources featured heavily throughout the book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revolting Capital: Racism & Radicalism in Washington D.C., 1900-2000 by Gerald Horne

Gerald Horne’s history of Black activism in DC centers the role of Howard University as an international magnet for radical, anti-imperialist activism. The book encompasses many different organizations and individuals and the numerous causes they rallied around, highlighting the relationship between local, national, and international struggles, and DC as a site where these connections were forged. Horne focuses primarily on political battles with larger stakes, giving less attention to residents’ struggle to win the limited form of home rule that remains in place today. Yet his book makes clear that the issues Black Washingtonians faced at home drove their leadership on other fronts.

*DC Public Library does not currently have this title in its collection, but we are working on adding it. We have many other books written by Gerald Horne to peruse in the meantime.

 

 

Jim Crow Capital: Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C.,1920-1945 by Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy

This book documents the myriad ways that Black women organizers in DC engaged in political dialogue and grassroots activism during the decades before home rule. They lobbied and testified before Congress, campaigned in other states for candidates seeking national office, and established a domestic workers’ union. They also advocated locally for voting rights, equal access to public accommodations, economic justice, and an end to police brutality. Murphy’s deep dive into the treatment of Black women by police exposes the danger many residents faced in having no locally elected officials who were accountable to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Democracy’s Capital: Black Political Power in Washington, D.C., 1960s-1970s by Lauren Pearlman

 In 1957, DC became the first major U.S. city to gain a Black majority. As it entered a decade of increasing pressure for civil rights nationwide, the city continued to be run by three federally-appointed commissioners and a slate of segregationist Congressmen who sat on the House and Senate District committees. This is the stage for Pearlman’s book, which highlights the demands of local activists committed to improving conditions for Black Washingtonians and the federal government’s response. As DC fought for and eventually won limited home rule in 1973, it was subject to increasingly punitive policies for combatting crime that especially harmed Black residents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Captive Capital: Colonial Life in Modern Washington by Sam Smith 

Journalist and civic activist Sam Smith grew up in DC, joined the struggle for home rule in the 1960s, and co-founded the D.C. Statehood Party in 1970. He writes about how and why DC lost home rule and what it is like to live in a capital city with so little say over its own governance, “a power vacuum in the nation’s center of power.” His biting commentary covers topics ranging from how the city was planned and designed, the history and then-current state of race relations, policing and crime, and the distinctive character of various neighborhoods. The book includes a series of Roland Freeman photos that are a fascinating time capsule of early 1970s DC.

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