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My paper seeks to contextualize the journeys of two noteworthy art-forms and cultural movements. Both Hip-hop and Go-go surfaced in the early 1970s, with their appeal and success emerging out of major urban centers, the South Bronx, New York for Hip-hop and Washington D.C. for Go-go. Both art-forms emerged and proliferated during the tenures of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, whose administrations both severely cut school funding which specifically targeted "the arts," in a deplorable effort to remedy economic recession and deindustrialization. In the absence of needed structural venues for artistic expression for young people in cities plagued by urban decay, miraculously yet indicative of the African-American experience, meaningful cultural aesthetics flourished. Young people resorted to creating new forms of music with minimal resources, reflecting their brilliance in the face of impoverished circumstances. The elements of Hip-hop required the usage cardboard, spray paint cans, building and subway surfaces, and their parents' record players. Go-go relied on the ingenious rhythmic usage of pots, pans, trash cans and other household percussion items. Both Hip-hop and Go-go both employed the usage of the West African retention of "Call and Response." The emergence of both art-forms is further rooted in the West Indies' cultural tradition, transported to the US east coast through immigrant pioneers of the art. Despite their significant similarities, the two genres are located in drastically different spaces today. Go-go has survived and thrived along-side hip-hop, yet remained regional within the Washington, D.C. area, juxtaposed to hip-hop's world-wide growth. My paper will evaluate the significance of their distinctive journeys, addressing, "Why and How did Go-go remain only regional, untainted by the impulses of industry and commercialization, unlike its cohort hip-hop." Finally, I will examine the significance of art and consumerism, as rap music and hip-hop culture created by African Americans, now consist of consumer bases that are significantly non-black; while Go-go is created by African Americans, yet reflects a consumer base that has always been and continues to be overwhelmingly African-American. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ASALH 2008 Conference Paper William Washington Browne and the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers. Daniel R. Acker, Jr. The paper will trace the founding of the United Order of True Reformers by former Georgia slave, William Washington Browne, the growth of the fraternal organization and the story of its crowning achievement, the founding of the second black owned and operated bank in America, in Richmond, Virginia, in 1889. The paper will also tell the story of the bank's successes, culminating in the building of its Washington, DC branch in 1903. This beautiful building, which still stands today, was the first substantial commercial structure to be designed, built, financed, owned and operated all by African Americans. The building's architect was John Anderson Lankford, the first of several early African American architects registered to practice in the District of Columbia. Additionally, the paper will touch on the important fraternal society movement among African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as discuss the other black owned banks and financial institutions of consequence that were founded and operated during this era. Finally, the paper will pose the question as to why the cultural image of African Americans does not include these remarkable early organizational and financial achievements by a people just a generation out of bondage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a research institute in Washington, D.C., there are approximately 6 to 7 million Muslims in America comprising immigrants from over 50 countries, African Americans, and a significant number of Latinos and White converts. Ironically, African Americans constitute the largest percentage of Muslims in America, representing 40% of the total Muslim population and 80% of the new converts to the faith, which is reported to be at least 20,000 annually. This paper maps the terrain of African Americans and their encounter with Islam. The project focuses on issues of race, ethnicity, and Islamicity, characterized as Muslim tropes of religiousity, in order to interrigate and make intelligable the complex and problematic relationship between African Americans and their immigrant Muslim brothers and sisters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a political overview of the roles played by African American in electoral politics in the District of Columbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a historical overview of the rich legacy of Black women in public service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed Anti-Child Trafficking & Slavery Institute-ACTS-will provide an opportunity for stakeholders involved with this issue to investigate root causes of child trafficking, slavery and bondage and identify best practices to eradicate the problem. ACTS will provide a framework for coordinating all the intellectual activities and policy measures that originate from U.S. and around the world. The choice of Washington, DC as the institute's location will make it spatially easier to inform key U.S. policy makers about the problem of child trafficking, slavery, bondage and ways and the Institute's initiatives can help eradicate the problem. ACTS stakeholders include key inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) and INGOs, including labor unions working together to fight the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Until Justice is blind, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact." This presentation examines the position and outlook of blacks in Washington, D.C. on the eve of the Civil War through the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Washington, D.C.- native Melvin Deal formulated African dance through teaching and performing in the District in the late 1950s and early 1960s while still a student at Howard University. Deal came by his earliest versions of traditional dance through Caribbean immigrants (namely Dominicans and Cubans) to the area. Though Deal thought he was learning a traditional form of African dance, he was really exposed to African dance through a Caribbean filter. This exposure helped him to initiate and later capitalize on what would become a growing trend in popular culture as well as dance-to identify with African iconography and celebrate cultural heritage through the language of dance. This presentation examines the dance legacy of Melvin Deal and Deal's contributions of African dance forms to Washington, D.C. dance scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advocacy of Louise Miller for education for her deaf son in the District of Columbia, expanded to include other parents and community organizations. All of the members of this marginalized group of students, benefited from her struggles to change the way Washington's deaf students of color were educated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The important role played by the African American press and its meaningful contributions, in relation to the passing of the Emancipation Bill in the District of Columbia, have not been sufficiently researched and historically assessed. This research documents public opinion during the emancipation era in Washington, D.C. through the use African American newspapers and periodicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church is the oldest African American church in the District of Columbia. This study of Mt. Zion Church documents how early African American communities created strong institutions in Washington, D.C., as they maneuvered through the terrain of enslavement and freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]