The Spirit of Freedom

The weather in the DC area has been outstanding since I got here. I have been trying very hard to take advantage of it. I am told no snow until probably mid-november but I figure it has to cool down at some point so I am avoiding wasting any of the sunshine if I can. All that sunshine enjoying lead me to Merdian Hill and Malcolm X Park. I must say running into the park was a very pleasant surprise. Very nice, very beautiful, very calm and just a few steps from some very busy streets. If there is one thing I have finally learned while traveling is to stop and just take a few moments for myself and relax. Trust me visiting places like this have certainly helped.

Malcolm X Park

This mural is on U Street. I have been told that if I want to hear some great Jazz I need to come back to U Street because that is where all the best Jazz Clubs are. There certainly was a music theme almost everywhere I looked on the street.

Another stop I made on U Street was at the African American Civil War Memorial Museum. I think this is the smallest museum I have been to, dedicated to the black soldiers who fought for freedom during the US Civil War. The memorial just down the street includes a wall with the names of the 209,145 United States Coloured Troops (which included 7,000 white officers). At the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Union (the north) celebrated its victory with a Grand Review of Troops down Pennsylvania Avenue. Pennsylvania Avenue is the widest street in Washington, DC and is the street the White House sits on. That Grand Review of Troops did not include the 156 African American regiments that took part in the war. I am learning that these coloured troops played major roles in several major battles in the civil war, including the capture of Richmond Virginia, however this info is hard to confirm outside of the photos and old newspaper clippings in the museum since it has been left out of US history books (although military records tell a different story).

This is the Spirit of Freedom, the African American Civil War Memorial

Julie