Exhibit Opens to Celebrate the Building — and Future — of America in Chevy Chase DC
About This Exhibit
This public awareness campaign, titled “250: A Neighborhood in the Nation’s Capital,” features posters displayed in storefronts along Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase DC’s commercial corridor. It addresses issues identified by a committee of local residents tasked with considering how our uniquely advantaged neighborhood can meet future growth demands while ensuring inclusivity and diversity.
The citizen group that created it is the standing committee on Racial and Social Equity (RASE). It was established in 2021 by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission ANC 3/4 G when community divisions formed in response to a mayoral challenge to create more affordable housing in Ward 3. It was designed to promote reflection and conversations about the arc of American history in our neighborhood, from colonial times to the present, in hopes that this will assist us in making the best choices about our common future.
Organizational Themes
Three themes were identified to organize the exhibit: 1) What are the milestones in our history of inclusion and exclusion? 2) How was this history of exclusion forgotten and then recovered?, and 3) What lessons might we draw from our knowledge of the past to guide us in making choices about our future?
The public exhibit is framed by the impending commemoration of the founding of our republic 250 years ago, in 1776, that adopted the Declaration of Independence as its measure of success.
The United States of America is a global project conceived in the crucible of the Enlightenment. As the statuary on Lafayette Square across the street from the White House attests, we were born in a particular geopolitical moment that connected interstate rivalries with universal aspirations condensed in the text of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Building this American dream is an ongoing process requiring from all of us reflection, commitment, and local action. RASE has partnered with Historic Chevy Chase DC (HCCDC) and Main Street/District Bridges to use the opportunity presented by the 250th anniversary of the launch of the republic to encourage us to consider how we might participate in this process in light of this neighborhood’s place in the nation’s capital.
Exhibit Components
The exhibit includes a series of nine colorful graphic posters to be displayed in commercial business windows along Connecticut Avenue. The posters beckon passersby to scan a QR code linking to content that tells about various aspects of our community’s history. The purpose is to better inform residents so they can make the best decisions about how we should shape our future.
Each poster is a montage illustrating different aspects of the Chevy Chase DC’s fascinating history, that is spelled out in our main story narrative (story is on the right). All the carefully researched content is curated on this special collections page here on HCCDC’s website and can be accessed independently from the posters.
The posters, designed by RASE member (and current HCCDC President) Carl Lankowski with graphic designer Lucy Pope of 202DESIGN, measure approximately 11 inches by 17 inches. We chose to unveil the exhibit on Chevy Chase Day, held on Sept. 21 this year – a day set aside each year to celebrate our community’s rich heritage.
The Arc of American History Left its Shadow and its Promise
As we approach the 250th anniversary of our republican experiment, our thoughts will naturally gravitate to grand themes. But the central story of our republic is also manifest locally in our neighborhood. And we can contribute to a more perfect union by considering that history.
In September 1787 Philadelphia with the text of the US Constitution just agreed, Benjamin Franklin said: “We have a republic, if you can keep it.” There was skepticism in his remark. He was aware of the gap between the aspirations of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 proclaiming that “all men are created equal, endowed by the Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and the institution of slavery accepted in the text of the constitution eleven years later. And so, the American story has been aspirational and ongoing, to realize a more perfect union inspired by the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence.
Eighty-five years after the Declaration, the country descended into civil war over the issue. On the Gettysburg battlefield President Abraham Lincoln called on the nation to rededicate itself to closing the gap: “It is for us the living…to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced…—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Progress in realizing the Declaration’s promise has been uneven. After a decade of Reconstruction, new forms of oppression based on exclusionary thinking undid the liberating impact of the civil war. American society became aggressively segregated by race. Legal limitations were anchored by social practices and ideologies of exclusion. The Civil Rights movement of the mid-twentieth century made substantial progress, but rising economic inequality associated with globalization facilitated mobilization of anxieties and diverted attention away from the aspirations embodied in the Declaration.
Exhibit’s Partnerships and Creative Team
Meet the organizations and people who worked together to create this exhibit, “250: A Neighborhood in the Nation’s Capital.” We also want to point out the local businesses who have agreed to display the posters in their storefronts.