“It’s the last social resource for historic U Street,” says  John Ed-Badr, curator at the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage.  The building, formerly known as the Twelfth Street YMCA and the Anthony Bowen YMCA was home to the first African American chapter of the YMCA.  The structure has since become a popular place for weddings, panel discussions, and networking events.

Booker T. Washington’s son-in-law, William Sidney Pittman, designed the building.  Over the years, men such as Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, and John Thompson slept and used the facilities.

Today, The Thurgood Marshall Trust owns the building and provides reduced cost rental facilities and office space for non-profits.  The center, which reopened in February 2000, is home to Tony Browder’s IKG Cultural Resource Center along with panel presentations covering his work. Other exhibits in the building include a Pullman Porter display with original artifacts and a Thurgood Marshall photographic display of his life and achievements.  There is no charge for viewing the exhibits.

Photo: Old YMCA guest room. The type were Thurgood Marshall would have slept.

The Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership (POHGEP) has been working with the people of the Gambia, a small West African country, since 2002.  Thanks to your past support, POHGEP has provided technical and financial assistance to educational and economic development institutions in the Gambia.

This year we start with a big boost!

We started the Fall fundraising season with winning a grant from the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C.  to produce a program for the upcoming Humanities, Art, and Technology (HAT) Festival at St. Elizabeths.  The HAT festival will be part of the larger city-wide event Art All Night:  Nuit Blanche DC, which will feature art programs around the city Saturday, September 26 from 7p to 3a. 

One of the many things that our participation will produce is more awareness of our charity and donors.  Our program will include the showing of House Maid by Gambian Bubacarr Jallow, who is the principal at one of the schools we support, and a Facebook chat with students from another school we support.

We even start the season with $439.72 in scholarship funds. This makes us only $985.28 short of our immediate 2015-2016 goal to raise $1,425 to provide 16 scholarships to students in need in The Gambia, West Africa.  (Our longer-term goal includes raising additional funds for two other programs.)

For just $75, you can provide a needy student one full year of elementary or middle school education. When you sponsor a child, you will get a personal  letter and picture from your child during the holiday season.  

This year, we are working with a private and a public school.  Private schools are extremely common in the Gambia and many get support from European groups and religious organizations.  The private school that we work with is locally owned and locally funded.  Private schools are usually less crowded, but they cost more.

If $75 or more is not in your budget, you may make a donation in multiples of $5 to either our West Africans in America exhibition or to our general expense fund.   We may use some general expense funds to provide scholarships.

Photo: Jamil Sowe was able to attend school for one full year for just $75 because of Ms. Ambrose, who is a POH reader like you. Thanks for you donation.

Community Forklife, which is a reseller of used building materials, is holding a This Old Warehouse 2015:  Fall Festival and Vintage Tools fair featuring  preservation experts, tradespeople, workshops, demonstrations, music, and food trucks.  Other organizations will join them and share information on obtaining preservation grants and rebates including local restoration companies:  Maryland Milestones/Anacostia Trails Heritage Area, Preservation Maryland, Historic Roofing Company, Wagner Roofing, Prince George’s County Office of Historic Preservation, and The Prince George’s Memory Project.

The free event is five minutes from Washington in Edmonston, Maryland.  The event is at 4671 Tanglewood Drive from 10a to 3p.  The event and parking is free.

Did you know that you may create a my Social Security account and be able to:

1. Get your online Social Security statement or verification, review your lifetime earnings history, and catch any errors while it’s easier to fix them?

In 2000, Baltimore’s Louis Fields led an effort to persuade the Maryland General Assembly to legislate an official annual observance of Harriet Tubman. He was also instrumental in persuading the state's two United States Senators to introduce the bills which are creating the new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument on the Eastern Shore.

Fields was one of three winners of the 2015 Free Press Underground Railroad award. The Underground Railroad Free Press reports on contemporary underground railroad issues and the award honors those who work to preserve the history of the underground railroad.

See Fields, Dobbin House, Gunner Named 2015 Free Press Prize Laureates in the Underground Railroad Free Press

From Our Archives:  New Harriet Tubman Byway and Centennial Celebration

Washington, DC
How the Civil War Changed Washington
Anacostia Community Museum
1901 Fort Place, SE
thru Sun, Nov 15, free
27th Annual DC Blues Festival
Carter Barron
Sat, Sep 5, noon, free

Prince George’s County Fair
Rosecroft Raceway
Thu, Sep 10, 5p -10p
Fri, Sep 11,  5p - 10p
Sat, Sep 12, 11a - 10p
Sun, Sep13, 10a - 6p
Ages 5 and younger - Free
Ages 6-11 - $5
Ages 12 and older - $6
Seniors (55 and older) - Thu Free, $5 all other days
Carnival rides and other attractions will require the purchase of a ticket. Parking at Rosecroft Raceway is free

Fairwood Arts Festival
Fairwood Park
12390 Fairwood Parkway
Bowie, MD
Sun, Sep13, 3p-8p, free
211 W 58th Street
Fri, Jun 26, 7p, $

New York
Tuesday’s Children’s Roots of Resilience Gala
Roosevelt Hotel
45 E 45th Street
Sat, Sep 10, 6p-10p, $500

Senga Nengudi
Dominique Lévy Gallary
909 Madison Avenue
Sep 10-Oct 24, Tue-Sat 10a-6p

Hilton Als, author and critic
Visionary Speaker Series
New Museum
235 Bowery
Tue, Sep 15, 7p, $20-$25

Memphis
Mid-South Book Festival
Playhouse on the Square
and Circuit Playhouse
Wed, Sep 9-Sun, Sep 13

Reading  PA
Chile Pepper Festival
233 Bowers Road
Bowers, PA
Fri, Sep 11-Sat, Sep 12, 9a-6p, donation

TV
Althea Gibson
American Masters
PBS
Fri, Sep 4, 9p-10:30p, free

Coming
HAT Fest part of Art All Night
Port Of Harlem Gambian Education
Parntership Program
Elizabeths East at the RISE Demonstration Center
1100 Alabama Ave, SE
Washington, DC  
Sat, Sep 26, 7p-3a, free

New York City Black Memorabilia, Fine Art & Collectible Show
PIER 94 in mid-Manhattan (55th & West Side Highway)
New York City
Fri and Sat, Sep 26 and 27, $