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For the first time during World War II, African-American women were allowed to enter the military. The first contingent trained in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where they were housed in segregated barracks, ate at separate dining tables, and used segregated recreational facilities. Despite the hardships and discrimination, the women persevered and thirty-six of the original group graduated and were assigned to Officers Candidate School, Cooks and Bakers School, the Transportation Pool, or the Clerical School. A lecture by Janet Sims-Wood discusses the courageous example set by the first African-American WAC unit in Europe. |
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Fighting for Freedom: Black WACs During WWII Dr. Janet Sims-Wood July 15, 2008 |
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The African-American Experience in the CCC Dr. Olen Cole May 20, 2008 |
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Greenbelt, MD |
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Reston, VA |
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Columbia , MD |
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Maxine Gross and Eli Pousson will provide an introduction to the families, businesses, and congregations who have called Lakeland home for over one hundred years, and the contributions and sacrifices made by African Americans in this community and others in their struggle to be accorded the rights, privileges, and status guaranteed to them as American citizens. For more information about Lakeland please visit the Lakeland Community Heritage Project. |
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The Art of Jacob Lawrence Dr. Leslie King-Hammond November 18, 2008 |
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Lakeland Maryland September 16, 2008
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Living Legacy of the New Deal |
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Greenbelt Museum |
Bi-Monthly Lecture Series |
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The film, “New Towns” was produced in 1987 by WETA and compares and contrasts Greenbelt, Columbia MD and Reston VA. Twenty years later all three communities have changed and developed in different ways. Highlights include interviews with pioneering residents of all three communities and Robert Simon the founder of Reston. Following the viewing museum staff will lead a discussion of the film. Here is a synopsis of the lecture by one of our attendees. |
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Between 1933 and 1942, nearly 200,000 young African Americans participated in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), one of Roosevelt’s most successful New Deal agencies. In an effort to correct the lack of historical attention paid to the African-American contribution to the CCC, Cole examines the contributions of African Americans to the CCC as well as its impact on its African-American participants. |
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The Greenbelt Museum sponsors a free bi-monthly lecture series in the Greenbelt Community Center. Topics focus on the period of the Great Depression to World War II and deal with history, material culture, social studies and art history. |
Third Tuesday Every Other Month 7:30pm Multipurpose Room, 201 Greenbelt Community Center 15 Crescent Road Greenbelt MD 20770 |
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Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson examines the complexity of black women's legacies with food as a form of cultural work. While acknowledging the negative interpretations of black culture associated with chicken imagery, Williams-Forson focuses her analysis on the ways black women have forged their own self-definitions and relationships to "the gospel bird." |
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New Towns January 15, 2008 |
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Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson March 18, 2008 |
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Contact person: Jill St. John 301.507.6582 museum@greenbeltmd.gov |
