BGuthrie Photos: 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Opening Reception

40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Opening Reception:

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Description of Pictures: All-Conference Reception and Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Lecture

Opening Reception. Catering provided by Ben’s Chili Bowl
Reception Remarks:
* Dr. Bernard Demczuk, GW Assistant Vice President for DC Relations
* Jennifer King, Interim Director of Special Collections, GW Libraries

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. DCHISR_131114_035.JPG: The More Things Change... The U Street Corridor is considered one of the richest cultural and historical areas in Washington, DC. Originally the site of agricultural fields that became three major encampments during the Civil War, the U Street Corridor saw a steady transformation into the early 20th century, becoming the city's most important concentration of businesses and entertainment facilities owned and operated by African Americans. Ben's Chili Bowl opened August 22, 1958, tapping into the hustle and bustle of U Street, dubbed the "Black Broadway." It did not take long for the reputation of Ben's Chili Bowl to grow. People knew it as a happening place. Open late, Ben's offered the chance to mix with celebrities and neighborhood folk and to eat delicious, spicy food. Employees quickly became adoptees in the extended family of Ben and Virginia. Whether it was Howard students taking a study break, Count Basie's rhythm section wolfing down half-smokes between sets, the restaurant was abuzz with the sounds of laughter, food being prepared, orders being taken, plates and utensils clinking and Virginia floating around the restaurant floor, checking up on everyone and everything. U Street was not immune to the growing social unrest of the 1960s. The day that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot 10 years after of [sic] the opening of Ben's, there was chaos in the streets. Ground zero of the D.C. riots was at the Peoples Drug store at 14th and U Streets, two blocks away from Ben's Chili Bowl. Virginia Ali remembers Stokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee -- its headquarters located across the street from Ben's -- coming into the restaurant and insisting that they defy the imposed curfew to feed the firemen and policemen working throughout the night to restore order. When the fires had been extinguished and the broken glass swept up, the neighborhood was in ruins, but Ben's Chili Bowl remained untouched.
2. DCHISR_131114_037.JPG: ... The More They Stay the Same: The damage of the riots exceeded far beyond the ruined landscape. Within in confines of the segregated city, U Street had served as the place where African American culture could thrive. The memory of that turbulent time stuck with the residents and when desegregation laws were enacted, many families took the opportunity to leave. As the 1970s progressed drug pushers and users began to replace the young, vibrant and dressed-to-impress crowd that had brought life and energy into the U Street Corridor. By the end of the '70s, U Street was almost unrecognizable. During this bleak time, an old patron returned to bring Ben's into national prominence. Bill Cosby had frequented Ben's during his day as a young Naval officer, and found comfort in knowing that no matter what, he could always return to order the same meal. In 1985, Cosby held a press conference at Ben's to celebrate the huge success of The Cosby Show. The conference shone a spotlight on a business whose community presence and work ethic mirrored the show's family-centered values. The attention from Bill Cosby's press conference translated to increased business for Ben's Chili Bowl, but the 1987 construction of the Metro U Street/Cardozo station would have a severe negative impact on business. While the long-term promise of a Metro station on U Street was more business, the immediate results were devastating. A lack of revenue forced Ben's to reduce their hours of operation and release all but two staff: Virginia and longtime employee Peaches Halton. From 1987 to 1991, the construction severely crippled the businesses that ran along U Street. For these four years the deeply devoted -- and loyal -- customers often parked their cars and navigated through a narrow alley entrance to get to the restaurant's side entrance.
3. DCHISR_131114_053.JPG: Ben's Chili Bowl: The Making of a Washington Landmark: On August 22, 1958 husband and wife Ben and Virginia Ali opened the doors of Ben's Chili Bowl at 1213 U Street in Washington, DC's Shaw neighborhood. The idea behind it was simple: Treat your employees like family and your customers like guests in your home. Fifty-one years later, Barack Obama, the first African American President, walked through the doors of an institution that proudly proclaims itself "a Washington landmark." The history that unfolds between these two events is a classic example of the American dream. This American success story is built upon the foundations of family and community support sustained during the most difficult of times through perseverance, hard work and innovation. In 2010 Ben's Chili Bowl donated their business records and personal records to The George Washington University Special Collections Research Center. Contained within these records are historical memorabilia, business records and extensive compilations of photographs and press coverage that span the first 50 years of operation. Through the examination of these materials, researchers will be able to understand how a small, family operated business came to hold such an important place in the city's cultural landscape.
4. DCHISR_131114_056.JPG: Family First: Marriage, Challenges, and Prosperity: The first of seven children, Mahaboob Ben Ali was born in 1927 in San Juan, Trinidad. In 1945, eighteen year old Ali immigrated to the United States with the determination to create success for himself. He worked at several restaurants to support his dream of becoming a dentist. An accident that left him with a broken back temporarily derailed these plans and forced him to reassess his future. Virginia Ali (nee Rollins) was born on a family farm in rural Chance, Virginia in 1933. After graduating from Virginia Union University, Virginia moved to Northwest Washington DC in 1951. Her aunt provided her with a home as well as a job as a bookkeeper and teller at the Industrial Bank of Washington at 11th and U Streets, the only African American bank in the city. It was at the teller window that Virginia and Ben's paths intersected. First a customer, then a suitor, Ben Ali's relationship with Virginia developed in conjunction with his new life. Unable to complete his dental school training due to his injured back, Ben needed a new direction, and he looked within himself for the answer. Taking his experience and knowledge gleaned from restaurant work and combining it with an epiphany about American's need for more spice in their tomato sauces, Ben made the decision to open a restaurant. The closing of a pool hall in what once was the Minnehaha Theater, provided the perfect location. Taking out a $5,000 bank loan, Ben and Virginia went to work. They covered their hotdogs and half-smokes using a secret chili recipe which gave their restaurant a unique twist on an already popular American food.
5. DCHISR_131114_128.JPG: User comment: Adam Lewis at the check-in desk
6. DCHISR_131114_134.JPG: User comment: John Richardson, committee member, in conversation.
7. DCHISR_131114_139.JPG: User comment: Johanna Bockmann and John Richardson, committee members.
8. DCHISR_131114_145.JPG: User comment: Mary Ternes, committee member, in conversation with GMU panelists.
9. DCHISR_131114_148.JPG: User comment: Matthew Gilmore
10. DCHISR_131114_159.JPG: User comment: Johanna Bockmann, committee member.
11. DCHISR_131114_173.JPG: User comment: John De Ferrari with Stephen Hansen, committee member
12. DCHISR_131114_176.JPG: User comment: Jerry McCoy
13. DCHISR_131114_233.JPG: Dr. Bernard Demczuk, GW Assistant Vice President for DC Relations
14. DCHISR_131114_252.JPG: Jennifer King, Interim Director of Special Collections, GW Libraries
15. DCHISR_131114_267.JPG: Dr. Bernard Demczuk, GW Assistant Vice President for DC Relations
16. DCHISR_131114_414.JPG: Kate Masur, and Bernard Demczuk
17. DCHISR_131114_436.JPG: Kate Masur, Steven Knapp
18. DCHISR_131114_439.JPG: Jane Freundel Levey, Kate Masur, Steven Knapp
19. DCHISR_131114_442.JPG: Ben Vinson, Jane Freundel Levey, Kate Masur, Steven Knapp
20. DCHISR_131114_447.JPG: Ben Vinson, Jane Freundel Levey, Kate Masur, Matthew Gilmore, Steven Knapp
21. DCHISR_131114_452.JPG: Geneva Henry, Ben Vinson, Jane Freundel Levey, Kate Masur, Matthew Gilmore, Steven Knapp, John Wetenhall, Christopher Klemek
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Featured Folk: Some of the people here can also be seen on other pages on this site.
- Gilmore, Matthew appears on:
  - 2019_DC_Bookfair_191101 NPC -- 42nd Annual Book Fair & Author's Night (2019)
  - 2019_DC_Thank_You_190130 USCHS -- Volunteer and Partner Appreciation Event @ Altria
  - 2015_DC_NPC_Bookfair_151117 NPC -- 38th Annual Book Fair & Author's Night (2015)
  - 2014_DC_DCHist_Books_141122 41st Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies -- Books (Saturday)
  - 2014_DC_DCHist_Other_1411 41st Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies -- Other images
  - 2014_DC_DCHist_Striner_141120 41st Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies -- Opening Lecture w/Richard Striner
  - 2014_DC_DCHist_OpenRec_141120 41st Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies -- Opening Reception
  - 2013_DC_DCHist_P10_131116 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Panel 10: Citizens on the Front Lines of Place Making
  - 2013_DC_DCHist_Masur_131114 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Formal Program
  - 2011_DC_FoggyBk_110108 Politics & Prose -- Matthew Gilmore And Joshua Olsen ("Foggy Bottom And The West End In Vintage Images")
- Knapp, Steven appears on:
  - 2017_DC_Yount_170913 Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Sylvia Yount ("Breaking Boundaries: American Art and the 21st-Century Museum") (Clarice Smith Distinguished Lecture)
  - 2013_DC_DCHist_Masur_131114 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Formal Program
  - 2013_DC_Sotomayor_130118 Politics & Prose @ GWU Lisner -- Sonia Sotomayor ("My Beloved World")
- Masur, Kate appears on:
  - 2018_DC_Masur_180226 DC -- Lincoln Cottage -- Event: Kate Masur ("They Knew Lincoln")
  - 2015_DC_13th_Amend_151207 Natl Archives -- Panel -- The 13th Amendment at 150: Emancipation, America’s Second Founding, and the Challenges That Remain
  - 2013_DC_DCHist_Other_131116 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Other shots from Saturday
  - 2013_DC_DCHist_P01_131116 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Panel 01: A Century of Federal Workers
  - 2013_DC_DCHist_Masur_131114 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies @ Carnegie Lib -- Formal Program
- McCoy, Jerry appears on:
  - 2022_DC_MLKLib DC -- Penn Qtr -- Martin Luther King Memorial Library (901 G St NW)
  - 2019_MD_SS_RR MD -- Silver Spring -- B&O Railroad Station (8100 Georgia Ave.)
  - 2018_MD_Josiah_180810 AFI -- "Josiah" (w/Jared Brock, Catherine Leggett, Jamie Kuhns, Dennis Green and Anthony Cohen)
  - 2018_DC_Ideas_Forum_180413 DC -- Lincoln Cottage -- Event: Lincoln Ideas Forum (2018)
  - 2017_DC_MLKLib_Wash DC -- Penn Qtr -- Martin Luther King Memorial Library -- Washingtoniana section
  - 2015_MD_SSL_Opening_Mob_150620 MD -- Silver Spring -- Library (900 Wayne Ave) -- Opening Event -- The Mob
  - 2015_MD_SS_VFD100_150515 MD -- Silver Spring -- 100th Anniversary of Silver Spring Fire Station
  - 2015_DC_Fords_150A_150414 Ford's Theatre -- 150th anniversary daytime
  - 2014_DC_DCHist_OpenRec_141120 41st Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies -- Opening Reception
  - 2013_PA_Lincoln_Group_131119 Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia -- Miscellaneous Gettysburg Dedication Day pictures
  - ...More (List all 13 pages with this person)...
2013 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS [to which I added a week to to visit sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee], and Richmond, VA), and my 8th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Nevada and California). Ego Strokes: Aviva Kempner used my photo of her as her author photo in Larry Ruttman's "American Jews & America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball" book. Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Number of photos taken this year: just over 570,000.
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