DC History Conference

Happy second day of #DCHistCon 2026! Today’s Highlights: ⭐ 4 Panel Sessions with 20 Panelists ⭐ 60+ Partners to Meet at the Research Showcase ⭐ 3 Coffee Chats: "How do you write regional histories for general readers?," "How can we use artsbased activism to promote community wellbeing?," and "How can K-12 educators go beyond the curriculum to create community-minded projects?" ⭐ Closing Keynote: "A Local Take on National Commemoration: What the Semiquincentennial Means to DC" with M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska in conversation with Sojin Kim. ✅ Register on the 5th floor all day long! Tag us in your journey today with @dchistcon and #DCHistCon!

Happy first day of #DCHistCon 2026! Today’s Highlights: ⭐ 4 Panel Sessions with 15 Panelists ⭐ 50+ Partners to Meet at the History Network ⭐ 2 Coffee Chats: "How can neighbors build community and honor their history?" and "Why and how do we write Latinx immigrant histories in dangerous times?" ⭐ Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Lecture: Rosemary Ndubuizu in conversation with Jessica A. Rucker ⭐ After Hours Party at @heurichhouse 's @1921biergarten ✅ Register on the 5th floor all day long! Tag us in your journey today with @dchistcon and #DCHistCon!

We want to make your #DCHistCon experience the best that it can be. To make the most of your weekend, we gathered the answers to your frequently asked questions, as well as recommendations to help you feel prepared! (more through the link in our bio) Starting tomorrow, May 1st fellow scholars, activists, journalists, artists, educators, and other community members will come together at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to explore DC history. Sessions take place mostly in the Auditorium and 5th floor event space, but you'll also find more programs in the Conference Center (4th floor), Great Hall (1st floor), and New Books (1st floor). When you arrive, head upstairs to print your badge at registration (5th floor). Have not registered yet? Use the link in our bio to let us know you're coming to the FREE community conference!

@DCHistCon After Hours are at the @HeurichHouse this year! Join us tomorrow May 1st from 5:30-8pm to close out the first day of the 52nd Annual community conference! Take a short trip on the red line from MLK Library to the Museum for an evening of community building with old and new friends! Explore the first floor of the historic house for a special edition “Heurich (Open) House” during @DupontCircleDC ’s monthly ArtWalk. Stop into the museum, then grab a drink with other conference attendees at @1921biergarten ! PS. Don’t forget to bring your copy of “The Undesirable Many: Black Women and Their Struggles Against Displacement and Housing Insecurity in the Nation’s Capital” to get it signed by Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Lecturer, Rosemary Ndubuizu. She’ll be in the Museum conservatory ready to meet you! Head over to @dchistcon to learn more + register for the conference!

I designed this year's @dchistcon logo and visuals. The conference is taking place this Friday and Saturday at the MLK jr Memorial Library and I'm excited to see these images live. From the program: "The DC History Conference gets a new look! After several years of redesign, we brought Carlos Carmonamedina on board to create an enduring look for the conference. Drawing inspiration from go-go posters and midcentury Capital Transit Company tram tickets, Carlos gave the conference a new treatment: bold letters, funky fonts, bright colors, and flat figures. Year to year, you should expect to see the same look and feel with a refreshed color scheme. Among the graphic design, you’ll see historic photographs highlighting the faces of Washingtonians from the past. Overall, the graphics display a vintage aesthetic that emulates old printing techniques". I wrote a post describing the process and sources: /blogs/cc/a-design-job-and-a-citys-visual-memory-dc_history_conference_design Thank you, @dchistory for trusting my work! Hope to see you all there :) . . . . #dchistory #dchistoryconference #dchistcon #artdirector #logodesign

DC History comes alive in less than ONE WEEK! Join your neighbors on May 1st & 2nd at the 52nd Annual #DCHistCon! This year’s program reflects on DC as a proud hometown at a moment of both celebration and challenge—set against the nation’s 250th anniversary and a shifting political and financial landscape for history and humanities work. Scholars, activists, journalists, artists, educators, and other community members come together to explore the city’s history. More than 1,000 people attended last year’s conference. This community event features more than 58 presenters across 16 panels, keynotes, and coffee chats. Meet over 50 organizations during the History Network and more than 40 projects during the Research Showcase. The conference is free for all attendees—register today! Link in bio!

Introducing our #DCHistCon Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Lecture! “The Undesirable Many: Black Women and Their Struggles Against Displacement and Housing Insecurity in the Nation’s Capital.” ➡️ Join housing policy expert and author Rosemary Ndubuizu and Jessica A. Rucker for a discussion on her new book focused on the history of Black women’s tenant activism and examine the contemporary challenges of affordable housing advocacy and welfare politics. Washington, DC residents face some of the most expensive rents in the country, surging income inequality, and high rates of displacement. Black low-wage families are most vulnerable to these harms of urban development. This fact has inspired generations of protests: since the 1960s, Black women have been at the forefront of the fight for housing security. 🗓️ Friday, May 1, 4:00-5:15pm 📍 MLK Library Auditorium | 5th Floor 💬 Rosemary Ndubuizu is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies at Georgetown University and Jessica A. Rucker is a PhD Student in American Studies at University of Maryland, College Park. Every year #DCHistCon celebrates historian and educator Letitia Woods Brown with its annual lecture in her memory, featuring a distinguished scholar of DC history.

Have you mapped out your #DCHistCon 2026 experience? Check out the schedule-at-a-glance, plus the full program to plan your experience at the 52nd annual conference at the MLK Library (901 G St NW). Link in bio! Here’s what’s in store: 💬 8 Panel Discussions ☕ 8 Coffee Chats 🤝 Over 50 participants at the History Network and Research Showcase 🗣️ Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Lecture and Closing Keynote 🍻 After Hours at the @HeurichHouse Museum ✨ And more! Pro tip 1: The conference schedule-at-a-glance is on our website for you to explore, so start circling which programs you’re attending. ✏️ Pro tip 2: Register online now to make check-in at the conference quick and get you exploring DC history right away! Registration is free and open. Use the link in our bio to sign-up!

Registration for @DCHistCon is now open! Join us May 1-2 at the largest annual gathering for history and humanities-minded Washingtonians. ⭐⭐⭐ Link in bio to register! The DC History Conference’s mission is to highlight outstanding recent scholarship and engagement with the history of Washington, DC and to share that knowledge with an interested community of scholars, neighbors, students, history enthusiasts, policy makers, activists, artists, and more. Since 1973, trained scholars and community members have had the opportunity to present their work at this welcoming annual gathering. This interdisciplinary community conference prioritizes the local city but includes the federal city, as well as nearby Maryland and Virginia. We can’t wait to share more details about the 2026 program! Stay tuned right here for the full lineup! #DCHistCon is presented by @dchistory , @humanitiesdc , and @dcpubliclibrary .

Calling all organizations and individuals doing humanities-based work across the DMV! 🤝 Be part of the History Network at @DCHistCon on May 1! This two-hour expo connects DC History Conference attendees with your work! Participating organizations share their work, distribute materials, and engage directly with educators, researchers, students, and community members. Attendees visit the Network to discover projects and initiatives they may want to follow, volunteer with, collaborate on, or support. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but space is limited. Link in bio to learn more! 📸 History Network participant chats with a conference attendee, April 4, 2025. Photo by Cindy Centeno

To do this weekend: Submit your ideas to the @dchistcon ! ✅🏃‍➡️ Submissions for the 52nd Annual DC History Conference, happening May 1-2 at the MLK Memorial Library, are due this Monday, February 9 at 9 am! The DC History Conference is the largest annual gathering for history and humanities-minded Washingtonians. The DC History Conference’s mission is to highlight outstanding recent scholarship and engagement with the history of Washington, DC and to share that knowledge with an interested community of scholars, neighbors, students, history enthusiasts, policy makers, activists, artists, and more. Since 1973, trained scholars and community members have had the opportunity to present their work at this welcoming annual gathering. This interdisciplinary community conference prioritizes the local city but includes the federal city, as well as nearby Maryland and Virginia. The conference is now accepting submissions! Link in bio to apply! 📸 Photos by Shedrick Pelt (@sdotpdotmedia )

There are TWO WEEKS LEFT to submit your proposals for @DCHistCon 2026! Against the backdrop of the nation’s 250th anniversary, we are excited for a new program format for the 52nd Annual DC History Conference happening May 1-2. The committee has identified the historic topics below, relevant to Washingtonians’ lives today: 🔵 America’s 250th Anniversary 🔵 Beautifying Washington 🔵 Education / Schooling 🔵 Embodied Histories 🔵 Everyday Culture 🔵 Federal Government in/and DC 🔵 Protest and Activism 🔵 Self-Determination The committee is looking for submissions from all community members: artists, educators, local organizers, performers, public history practitioners, researchers, and scholars across the humanities and other fields, as well as students for the following formats: ⭐ Panel ⭐ Individual Presentation ⭐ Film Screening ⭐ Alternative Session Types (Poster, Coffee Break Chat, Recent Book) Link in bio to learn more + submit. The DC History Conference’s mission is to highlight outstanding recent scholarship and engagement with the history of Washington, DC and to share that knowledge with an interested community. Since 1973, trained scholars and community members have had the opportunity to present their work at this welcoming annual gathering. This interdisciplinary community conference prioritizes the local city but includes the federal city, as well as nearby Maryland and Virginia.