Baptism in Lerty, Virginia

 Rev. Wilbur Dameron, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, conducts a riverside baptism in Lerty, Virginia. 

Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Photograph by Steven M. Cummings, 2003.

 High res image  Top

White House Easter Egg Roll

Black children in Washington, D.C. participated in the annual Easter egg hunt at the White House, one of the public events that blacks were allowed to attend in that segregated city.

White House Easter Egg Roll, 1898. Courtesy Library of Congress.

 High res image  Top

Christmas Scene

This image of a family gathered around a Christmas tree was a familiar scene in the 1940s.

Percival Bryan Collection, Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Gift of Rose Dyke.

 High res image  Top

Mardi Gras Indian Suit

Since the early 1900s, four generations of the Harrison family have "masked Indian," including the year-long project of hand-making the elaborate costumes, a tradition beginning with the uncles of Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. (now deceased) and passed on. This costume was created and worn by Harrison's grandson, Big Chief Brian Nelson in 1999.

Full Mardi Gras Indian suit of Big Chief Brian Nelson, Guardians of the Flame (1999). Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Photograph by Michael Barnes.

 High res image  Top

Crocheted Wedding Dress

This intricately crocheted wedding dress was created for and is worn by Judith Boatwright of Charleston, South Carolina.

Image courtesy Judith Boatwright, 1996.

 High res image  Top