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Title: The Washington Blade, January 6, 1995
Description: An Independent newspaper serving the gay community. This edition features articles on a court ruling restricting the activities of gay Federal workers groups, an ongoing court battle concerning the 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' policy, the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control to increase lesbian participation in screenings for cervical and breast cancer, a Federal ruling on assisted suicide, the passing of a law in California to ban discrimination against transgender persons, and the low risks of doctor-to-patient transmission of AIDS., Volume 26, Number 1

Title: Lewis Maiden
Description: In this interview, Lewis Maiden discusses what Petworth was like when his family first moved there, when many of his neighbors and schoolmates were Italians. He talks about the various neighbors and local businesses he has known over the years since moving back to Petworth in 1971, including a former People’s Drug at Georgia and New Hampshire avenues that temporarily became a boxing club and youth community center. He talks about what he did for fun both as a teenager and as an adult, including playing at Lincoln’s Cottage on the grounds of the Old Soldier’s Home, swimming and fishing in Rock Creek, and some of the places he went to hear music., Lewis Maiden was born in Washington DC in 1950 to parents who were also born in DC. His family first moved to Petworth around 1960, where he attended St. Gabriel’s through 8th grade and then Roosevelt High School. He moved to his current home in Petworth in 1971. He spent his career as a printer for the U.S. House of Representatives and for individual Congressmen., Collection 220, Mapping Segregation in Washington D.C. Oral History Project, is not part of the DC Oral History Collaborative. However, the interviews from Collection 220 are part of the Mapping Segregation in Washington, D.C. project. The topic and interviewers are the same, the funding sources are different. The interviews from Collection 220 have been included with the interviews from the DC Oral History Collaborative as a convenience to researchers.

Title: The Washington Blade, January 25, 1991
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on an on-air demonstration at the CBS Evening News by Act Up New York, another attempt to repeal D.C.'s Sodomy Law, a look at which countries opposed the United Nations recognizing the International Lesbian and Gay Association among other non-governmental organizations, a look back at a decade of the Gay Women's Alternative, speculation on the possibility of domestic partner benefits for federal employees as the Office of Personnel Management made some small policy changes, coverage of gay participation in pro-life and anti-war marches, information about local AIDS drug trials recruiting volunteers, controversy over the inclusion of a float made by Tampa (FL) gay groups in the XXV Super Bowl parade, coverage of the Mr. Leatherman contest and D.C.'s leather community, information about a local gay soccer team, and ads for gay-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 22, Number 4

Title: The Blade, June 21, 1979
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on hearings to reconsider requirements to self-disclose homosexuality on draft registration, protests about employment discrimination at the FBI, gay rights issues in local politics, attitudes to long-term romantic relationships in the gay community, coverage of DC's Gay Pride celebrations, challenges in funding the Gay Men's VD Clinic despite Congressional oversight of DC's budget, reviews of media about gays and transsexuals, and ads for gay-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 10, Number 13

Title: The Blade, August 2, 1979
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on anti-gay lobbying by Jerry Falwell and the Christian fundamentalist Right, immigration reform drops the requirement for medical exams for homosexuality, DC's school board' s acceptance of Jr. ROTC programs despite concerns of conflict between DC anti-discrimination law and military policy, reviews of gay-interest media, requests for foster parents for gay teens, continued protests against the FBI over employment discrimination, and ads for gay-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 10, Number 16

Title: Mabel Mitchell
Description: In this oral history interview, Ms. Mabel Mitchell, a long time DC resident, discusses her life and experiences moving from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Washington, DC. Ms. Mitchell discusses her early life in Raleigh, her move to Washington, DC, in the early 1950s, her transition to living and working in DC, and her long career in the government. Ms. Mitchell also talks about segregation and racial discrimination in Washington, as well as gentrification in the city in the 21st century., Born in the early 1940s, Ms. Mabel Mitchell grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. When Ms. Mitchell was only three years old her father died, leaving her mother to raise her with the help of grandparents and extended family. Though Ms. Mitchell was her parents’ only child, she was raised with a cousin who was like a sister. After graduating from high school, Ms. Mitchell moved to Washington, DC, in search of work and lived with her aunt. After working a variety of jobs, Ms. Mitchell secured a job at the Bureau of Navy Personnel beginning a forty-one-year career in the government. Ms. Mitchell retired in 2010.

Title: Alvin Harris
Description: Mr. Alvin Harris discusses his life and experiences moving from Raleigh, North Carolina to Washington, DC. Mr. Harris discusses his early life in Raleigh, his family’s move to Southeast Washington, DC, and his upbringing and education in the city. He also discusses his life in Washington, his work as a carpenter and career in construction, and his transition to work for the federal government. Additionally, Mr. Harris talks about Marion Berry and “Chocolate City,” and the crack epidemic in DC., Alvin “Flooty” Harris was born on October 21, 1958, outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, and was the youngest of his parents’ five children. His mother, Betty Jean Lyn Harris (b. 10/22/1932), raised Mr. Harris and his sibling as a single mother with the help of grandparents. The family migrated to Washington, DC, in 1966, when Mr. Harris was only 8 years old, and moved into the Hill East neighborhood of Southeast. Upon moving to Washington, Mr. Harris completed primary school education at Thomas B. Bryan Elementary School, attended Charles W. Eliot Junior High School, and went on to graduate from Eastern High School in 1977. Mr. Harris then completed a four-year carpentry apprenticeship through the Joint Carpentry Apprentice Committee and subsequently spent nine years working in construction. After leaving construction, Mr. Harris got a job as a carpenter working the federal government. Mr. Harris worked for the government until his retirement.

Title: Frances Robinson
Description: In this interview, Mrs. Frances Robinson, a long-time D.C. resident, discusses her life and experiences moving from Huntingdon, Tennessee, to Washington, D.C., in 1968. Mrs. Robinson discusses her upbringing and family life in Huntingdon, her family’s work as sharecroppers, and race relations in Huntingdon during her early life. She also talks about her move to D.C. in 1968 to provide childcare for her sister, the transition to city life, pursuing an education in Washington, and her 43-year career in the federal government., Mrs. Frances Robinson was born April 5, 1951, in Huntingdon, Tennessee. One of nine children, Mrs. Robinson grew up with five brothers and four sisters. Throughout her upbringing, her parents worked as sharecroppers. In 1968, Mrs. Robinson moved to Washington, D.C., to help provide childcare for her eldest sister’s first child. Once in D.C., Mrs. Robinson began studying accounting at Benjamin Franklin University School of Accounting (later absorbed by George Washington University) and earned a bachelor’s degree. Mrs. Robinson met her husband while attending Benjamin Franklin University. Mrs. Robinson worked as an accountant for the Department of Education for 43 years before retiring in 2015. Mrs. Robinson has two children, born in 1981 and 1986, and three grandchildren, and she now lives in Prince George’s County. Now some of Frances Robinson’s hobbies include jigsaw puzzles, diamond painting, cooking, and exercise to stay busy during COVID.

Title: Marian Davis
Description: In this oral history interview, Marian Davis, a long time D.C. resident, discusses her life and experiences moving from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., in 1965. Ms. Davis talks about her upbringing and education in Charlotte as well as her experience with the college process. She also discusses her experiences with segregation in North Carolina. Ms. Davis then talks about her career in the federal government, first at the Department of Agriculture and later with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She closes the interview by discussing her family back in Charlotte, her current living situation in Washington, and differences between D.C. and North Carolina. This oral history interview was conducted by a D.C. high school student as part of a class assignment on the Great Migration in Real World History., Ms. Marian Davis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 18, 1943 to John Clarence Davis and Iretha Davis. She grew up in the Fairview Homes and attended Fairview Elementary School along with her four younger siblings. Ms. Davis went on to attend Northwest Junior High and graduated from West Charlotte Senior High School. Following her aspirations of being an executive secretary, after high school Ms. Davis attended Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte for two years. She then proceeded to Durham Business College, where she took the civil service entrance exam at age 23. After passing the test, she was presented with the opportunity to work in the Department of Agriculture and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1965. At age 24, she began her career as a GS-3 “colored” typist. While working at the Department of Agriculture, Ms. Davis continued her education by studying criminology and law enforcement at the University of Maryland. She received her degree in 1986, and this allowed her to progress in her career and become a congressional specialist within the Department of Agriculture. Ms. Davis later went on to join the Equal Employment Commission and completed her career as a GS-13 Executive Secretary. She retired in 1999, at age 56, completing 34 years of government service. Today Ms. Davis is enjoying her retirement, aiding others, and keeping in touch with loved ones.

Title: Dr. James E. Pierce
Description: In this oral history interview, Dr. James E. Pierce discusses his early life in Williamsburg, Virginia, his experiences living and working in various parts of the country, and his life and career in Washington, D.C. Dr. Pierce begins with a discussion of his upbringing and family life in Williamsburg and his service in World War II. He then talks about his career in medical technology, the discrimination he faced as a Black man in the medical field, and his travels around the country. Dr. Pierce concludes the interview with a discussion of his time in Washington, D.C., and his career at the National Institutes of Health., James Edward Pierce, Jr. was born on April 2nd, 1925 in Williamsburg, Virginia, to James E. Pierce Sr. and Pearl “Pearly” Edna Wallace Pierce. James Pierce Sr. died on December 17th, 1926, leaving Pearl a widow at age 21 with three children to care for. The family moved in with Pearl’s mother on a farm until Pearl remarried in 1934 and later gave birth to three more children. By the time the youngest daughter, Anne, was born in 1942, Dr. Pierce was 17 years old and preparing to attend Hampton University in the fall. While at Hampton, Pierce was drafted into the US Navy and served for three years before returning to Hampton in 1946 and graduating in 1949. After college, Pierce moved to Chicago and became a registered medical technologist. He then began working at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where he remained from 1950 to August of 1953. After Chicago, Pierce received a job offer in Richmond, California, and completed the four-day drive west alone. Upon reaching Richmond, the job offer was reneged when his employers discovered that he was Black. Undaunted, Pierce drove down to Oakland and walked into Kaiser Permanente Hospital. An old friend from Chicago greeted him and offered him a job on the spot. Pierce accepted the position, spent the next few weeks touring California, and then settled down working at Kaiser Permanente for the next two years. Pierce then decided he wanted a master’s in public health. He applied and was accepted to North Carolina Central University, and, after driving back across the nation, began his studies in September of 1955. After completing his master’s degree, Pierce considered returning to California but his then girlfriend, Dorothy Anne Piggot, asked him to consider Washington, D.C., where she was living. Pierce arrived in August of 1956 and got a job as the first Black medical technician at George Washington University Hospital. When his supervisor at GW retired in 1961, Pierce was next in line for the position but was denied the job because of his race. Pierce then left GW and got a job at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1961. At NIH, Pierce first worked under Baruche M. Blumberg (who would receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1968) and later switched into the world of management at NIH. Pierce became the first Black management intern at the institution and later took a job in personnel management at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. After that, he moved up until he became the special assistant to the assistant director of operations for all of NIH. After 30 years at NIH, Pierce retired on April 1st, 1991 at age 66 and was celebrated with a massive farewell party.

Title: Laura Danley
Description: In this interview, Mrs. Laura Danley discusses her life and experiences moving from Florida to Washington, D.C. Mrs. Danley begins by discussing her early life in Florida, which she spent moving between St. Petersburg and the town of Monticello. Through this discussion, she talks about her family life, educational experiences, and segregation during her upbringing. She then discusses her move to Washington, D.C., in 1955 and her life and career in the city. She concludes by discussing some of the changes she’s seen in Washington, her identity as a Washingtonian, and by giving some advice to younger generations., Mrs. Laura Thera Danley (née Laura Gilley) was born on April 15th, 1934, in Monticello, Florida. As a toddler, Mrs. Danley briefly moved with her parents to New York City. Soon after her parents divorced, and she and her mother (Laura Gilley) moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Mrs. Danley spent many summers of her childhood staying on her grandparents’ (Elizabeth and Isreal Gilley) farm in Monticello. Later, Mrs. Danley would spend more time on the family farm and with her great aunt, a teacher, while her mother, who previously did domestic work for local whites, went to beauty school. Mrs. Danley then moved back to her mother’s home in St. Petersburg for high school. She attended Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, a popular town for white tourists, where she met her future husband, William Terrell Danley, at fifteen years old through the school’s choir. She would go on to attend Florida A and M University, and, upon graduating in May 1955, marry Mr. Danley in August, when she was 21 years old. Immediately after their marriage, Mrs. Danley moved to Washington, D.C., where her husband was attending Howard University. This would be the first time Mrs. Danley would leave her home state of Florida, since her short time in New York as a baby. The couple made their first home on Euclid Street NW in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, just a short walk from Howard’s campus. Soon after, Mrs. Danley would get her first “real” job in the Women’s Bureau of the Federal Department of Labor. She would continue to work at the Women’s Bureau for 35 years, until her retirement. Mr. and Mrs. Danley never went back to Florida permanently, but they visit often. Mrs. Danley has three children, Cassandra, Silvia, and William, and four granddaughters. Today, Mrs. Danley enjoys playing board games and backgammon with her husband, as well as watching documentaries, like those made by Anthony Bourdain. Mrs. Danley is a lover of books, specifically biographies and memoirs about famous and non-famous people, in addition to her frequent study of the Bible.

Title: Marietta Crichlow and Linda Crichlow White
Description: In this interview, Marietta discusses her childhood and her years as a young woman, when she lived in her family’s Le Droit Park home while attending Howard University. She also discusses her move to Petworth in 1950 with her husband and daughter Linda. She talks about what the neighborhood was like when they first moved there, before most of the white families moved away, and in later years when she was a member of the Block Club, which met monthly. She and Linda comment on how the neighborhood has changed. Marietta also talks about her father’s job at the Library of Congress, and going to visit him there, and the stores she used to shop at downtown., Marietta Louise Stevens Crichlow was born in 1919 in Washington, D.C. She lived with her family in Le Droit Park and attended Mott Elementary until second grade, when her mother died. She then moved to Pennsylvania to live with relatives and returned to D.C. in 1937 to attend Howard University. She later received an MS in Education at Gallaudet University. She was a longtime member of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. In 1950, she moved with her husband and daughter Linda to 543 Randolph Street in Petworth. She remained there for the rest of her life. She worked in the D.C. Public Schools. Linda Crichlow White, Marietta’s daughter, was born in 1949. She briefly attended Petworth Elementary School and then Park View Elementary. (This interview was focused on Marietta so no further biographical information was collected on Linda.), Collection 220, Mapping Segregation in Washington D.C. Oral History Project, is not part of the DC Oral History Collaborative. However, the interviews from Collection 220 are part of the Mapping Segregation in Washington, D.C. project. The topic and interviewers are the same, the funding sources are different. The interviews from Collection 220 have been included with the interviews from the DC Oral History Collaborative as a convenience to researchers.

Title: George Koch
Description: George Koch reflects on growing up in a family of German immigrants in a small Ohio town. He speaks about the influence of his time in the Peace Corps, in the VISTA program, and his time on the organizing committee of a union for federal employees, and how these came to influence his politics and outlook on life. George talks about how he then solidified his prominent role in the Washington, DC arts community when he opened a studio in Adams Morgan, a year after the 1968 riot that had left much of the city burned., George Koch was born and raised in a small town in Ohio, where he came of age in the 1950s. He was one of the first Americans to serve in the Peace Corps, and it's U.S. equivalent VISTA. He attended college at Bowling Green State University and worked in the federal government, where his position on his union's organizing committee led to him becoming active in the labor right and Anti-Vietnam War movement in the 1960s. Having a love for painting, in 1969, just as Washington, DC was reeling from riots that burned huge swaths of the city, George opened an art studio in Adams Morgan, and has been a prominent member of the Washington, DC arts community ever since.

Title: The Washington Blade, February 26, 1988
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on Supreme Court decisions exempting security clearance decisions from the oversight of the federal Merit boards and refusing to hear an appeal out of Texas where a blood bank was forced to turn over a list of its volunteer blood donors over an allegation that the death from respiratory failure of an infant had been caused by AIDS-infected blood transfusions, proposed changes to narrow the federal hate crimes law, praise for 180 recommendations from the White House AIDS Commission, allegations of campaign finance fraud by right-wing activist Lyndon LaRouche's presidential campaign, concern that D.C. might not be doing enough to investigate a serious assault against a local gay man, arts reviews including a look at the original Hairspray film, and ads for LGBTQIA+-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 19, Number 9

Title: The Blade, October 11, 1979
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on the US Court of Appeals ruling against the FBI's employment discrimination case, black identity and heritage in the gay community, arrests in the murder of a gay man in Virginia, conflict within the National Organization of Women over lesbians, ratings of politicians in Virginia and DC on gay rights issues, Gay Pride celebrations in Sweden, Amnesty International's addition of gays to its Prisoners of Conscience advocacy, reviews of gay-interest media, and ads for gay-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 10, Number 20

Title: The Blade, May 24, 1979
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on outrage over the light sentence given to Harvey' Milk's assassin in San Francisco, efforts to make teen sexual education more gay-friendly, controversy in Congress over the FBI firing of a gay man contrary to Justice Department policy, coverage of gays in the media, the release of the teen who attacked gay men at a New York City anti-nuclear protest, news from a gay health conference, a story on religious pilgrimage to Israel by gay Muslins, Jews, and Christians, and ads for gay-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 10, Number 11

Title: The Blade, May 10, 1979
Description: An independent newspaper serving the LGBTQIA+ community. This edition features articles on investigations of employment discrimination in the FBI's firing of a gay employee over his refusal to name other gay employees despite Justice Department policy against this, violence against gays at a protest against nuclear technology in New York City, prominent lesbian activists representing at a feminist conference at George Washington University, reviews of gay-interest media, and ads for gay-friendly businesses, events, and groups., Volume 10, Number 10

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