Mary McLeod Bethune monument in Lincoln Park, Washington Trivia

Mary McLeod Bethune monument in Lincoln Park, Washington DC; (c) Soul Of America

Washington DC Trivia

Washington, DC is home to Howard University, Georgetown University, George Washington University and American University. Combined with closely University of Maryland at College Park and George Mason University its one of America’s top collegiate regions.

More than 10 million Amtrak passengers travel between Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, NYC, New Haven, Providence and Boston each year. As a result, intercity passenger rail service in the Northeast Corridor is larger than most international airports in America.

Washington metro area features headquarters by BET, Radio One, Fannie Mae, Marriott, Lockheed Martin, Freddie Mac, Gannett Publishing and General Dynamics.

Washington Convention Center is Top 10 in size, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_convention_centers_in_the_United_States.

Though African American population within Washington DC limits is declining, it growing well over 1.2 million in the 5.5 million Washington DC Metro Area.

The transportation, offices, housing and retail centers between Washington Metro Area and Baltimore Metro Area have grown so much since 1990, that some urbanologists consider this to be one Consolidated Metro Area.

Due to the Metrorail moving so many people, DC has been able to expand jobs to a higher degree than otherwise possible. One byproduct to fewer cars than otherwise, is the District of Columbia is closer to matching the grand plazas and boulevards first imagined by landscape architect Pierre L’Enfant.

FAMOUS RESIDENTS

Washington DC has a long list of African American celebrities, athletes, social ground-breakers and dignitaries born or made their mark here:

Frederick Douglass – Abolitionist and human rights activist
Father Patrick Healy – 1st president of Georgetown University
Sojourner Truth – Abolitionist
Paul Lawrence Dunbar – Master poet
Mary Church Terrell – Human rights activist
Duke Ellington – Composer, bandleader and musician
Dr. Carter G. Woodson – Historian, father of Black History Month
Thurgood Marshall – Notable Attorney and Supreme Court Justice
Elgin Baylor – Pro basketball legend
“Sugar” Ray Leonard – Welterweight and Middleweight boxing champion
Marvin Gaye – Notable Soul singer and composer
George Clinton – The Funkmaster
Mary McLeod Bethune – Human rights activist and educator
Muriel Bowser – Bad-ass sister mayor
Walter Washington – First African-American mayor of Washington DC
Marion Barry – Controversial, but effective former mayor
Dr. Dorothy Height – Recent leader of the National Council of Negro Women
Robert Johnson – Founder of BET
Ron Brown – Notable U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Randall Robinson – Human rights activist
Rev. H. Beecher Hicks – Notable local pastor
Eleanor Holmes Norton – DC’s first U.S. Representative
Colin Powell – Military leader and Secretary of State
Kenny Lattimore – R&B vocalist
Kevin Durant – Young basketball legend

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