Washington DC
When I was searching for two primary sources that taught about the history of Washington D.C.,I located a map, Bird’s-eye-view of Washington City, D.C., and a newspaper article, Schools for Freedmen. I will discuss both below. “Bird’s-eye-view of Washington City, D.C.” is a map drawn by George A. Morrison in 1872 and was published by W.H. & O.H. Morrison. The map, located at the Library of Congress, depicts a “bird’s-eye-view” of the Washington DC, with the Capitol building being the dominant landmark. The map is not drawn to scale and depicts what the District looked like at the time. Close Analysis of the map shows that it includes a legend which identifies land marks such as the Botanical Gardens, the Smithsonian, the newly completed Washington Monument, the Potomac, and Georgetown University, among others. While researching the map and its author, I found it appeared in the 1876 edition of “Morrison’s Stranger’s Guide for Washington City.” Based on this, this map was probably drawn to help tourists find their way throughout the Capital. I researched the map, Morrison, and the book it was published in, but failed to find anything more.
“Schools for Freedmen,” (pictured on the upper left corner) is an article written in the newspaper, Harper’s Weekly, on 30 March, 1867. According to the New York Public Library, this newspaper was an illustrated magazine which covered politics, the military, and cultural stories. The article did not include a byline. The author wrote how the newly “freedmen” of the south had begun to make strong efforts to educate their children. The author speaks of schools being built. It highlights a school that was built near Washington DC whose dual purpose was to provide primary education while simultaneously training the children to farm. With that aim, the school was built on a farm of one hundred acres. A picture of the farm was also included in the article. The author had an obvious favorable bias on the situation. Other websites, such as npr.gov, verify that schools for former slaves were built in or near DC. Further research showed that many great schools for African Americans were built in DC, schools including Howard University. Both sources were difficult to work with. This was probably due to their age. I tried searching for more information to further contextualize, or corroborate the information found, but I was not able to find much.
