AttucksAdams

04/11/2024

Really interesting tours this week with engaged and interested visitors from the Netherlands. We're exploring U.S. elections, the three branches of government, history, and commemoration.

The organizers also secured Dutch news correspondents who are based in the U.S. to give a journalist perspective on our systems. Extra compelling, even for me as the guide!

11/10/2024

Inauguration preparation has begun, believe it or not.😲

Much of Lafayette Park is closed for construction of the parade viewing box.

Pennsylvania Avenue bike lane barriers have been removed to accommodate the parade.

And most importantly, the official Inauguration platform going up on the west front of the Capitol Building.

26 days until the election.🗳️ 102 until Inauguration.🏛️

09/09/2024

Capital to Capital. Accra to DC connection.

🇺🇲🤜🏽🤛🏽🇬🇭

13/08/2024

I knew the basics of the story about the desegregation/integration of Glen Echo Park (just outside of Washington DC).

But I definitely did not know this documentary's worth of the story. Looks to be screened this Friday at the DC Black Film Festival. [https://dcbff.org/]

This is "Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round TEASER" by Ilana Trachtman on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

13/08/2024

🙏🏽

05/08/2024

Join The Phillips Collection team! We're hiring a Director of Membership, Public Programs Coordinator, and part-time Museum Assistants. Apply ➡️ https://ow.ly/jziN50SQj5j

🎨 Angela Bulloch, Heavy Metal Stack: Fat Cyan Three, 2018, Powder-coated steel, 118 1/8 in x 55 1/8 in x 39 3/8 in, Made possible with support from Susan and Dixon Butler, Nancy and Charles Clarvit, John and Gina Despres, A. Fenner Milton, Eric Richter, Harvey M. Ross, George Vradenburg and The Vradenburg Foundation, 2018.

05/07/2024

On Patreon this week: lots of photos and my thoughts on the newly renovated Folger Shakespeare Library! One of my favorite recent openings/reopening in DC. Lots to see here. Thanks to all Patrons for your continued support! 🙏🏾

Get more from Attucks Adams Walking Tours on Patreon

26/06/2024

On the Looking Blog this week--

We spotlight "I'll Have What She's Having: The Jewish Deli," on display at the the Capital Jewish Museum until August.

Photos and a short review of the Capital Jewish Museum exhibition titled: “I’ll Have What She’s Having: The Jewish Deli.”

21/05/2024

Wow! Our U Street tour was reviewed and featured in Condé Nast Magazine as one of the best things to do in DC!

This is a dream come true & and I'm so grateful for all your continued support. Both links are in the comments below!

16/04/2024

Capitol Hill Morning is quickly becoming our most popular tour. A fast moving, non-stop, 3 hour experience that's parts Civics 101, American history, DC history, and some of the District's best architectural sights.

Get an insider view of the House Office buildings, visit one of the stunning Congressional hearing rooms, go inside the Supreme Court building, and see the Library of Congress' incredible flagship Jefferson Building.

Early bird start at 9am, regular start at 10am. Tuesday -Thursday. Book directly at attucksadams.com. Call or email with questions. 🏛️📚🏃🏾‍♀️

https://www.attucksadams.com/walking-tours

19/02/2024

This was the first presidential ballot ever seen by DC residents. If you lived in Washington DC, the first time you could vote for the President of the United States was November 1964. Only certain citizens of actual states could vote in federal elections and DC wasn't --and still isn't-- a state.

The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution grants DC as many electors as if it were a state (but no more than the smallest state); effectively meaning 3 electoral votes for the foreseeable future.

In 1964 Johnson handily defeated Goldwater with over 85% of the District vote.

19/01/2024

This Sunday will see the opening of a major exhibition titled “Building Stories” at the National Building Museum.

It’s one of the most engaging and engrossing exhibitions they have put on. I was on book sensory overload, and kept running back and forth to see it all.

This exhibition made me look back and really think about why my favorite books as a kid were Bridge to Terabithia and Where the Red Fern Grows.

Those books aren't about architecture per se, but they are about designing & building your own world beyond the home you live in.

This exhibition will get kids (and adults, too) into books. It *is* about architecture, construction, and engineering, as much as it is about building stories. 4,000 square feet of it; the majority as interactives.

There’s a FREE community day this Sunday at the opening, but this exhibition is long term. It will run for 10 years! A full decade. Amazing.

The National Building Museum is open Thur-Mon, 10am-4pm. Standard admission is $10 adult / $7 kids.

401 F Street NW.

12/01/2024

The Museum of Natural History dominated Smithsonian attendance in 2023 with 4.4 million visits. Second place was American History with 2.1 million. Total visits across all Smithsonian museums was 17.7 million, the most since 2019.

Still haven't quite caught up to the 2009-2018 period when yearly attendance never dipped below 28 million and often topped 30 million. Details:👉🏾 https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/about/stats

08/01/2024

This week on Patreon -- Lifecycles of a Building: The Checker Club.

How do I adapt tours when institutions are displaced, buildings reconfigured, or even torn down?

A little deep dive into how I keep tours updated and a look at one of DC's great but tiny old school institutions.

👉🏾https://www.patreon.com/posts/lifecycle-of-95676317?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

23/12/2023

This week I will be sharing some of my favorite new pieces on display at the and .

Up third is "reconstructing an exodus history: boat trajectories from Vietnam and flight routes from refugee camps and of ODP cases" by Tiffany Chung.

If you were able to see the Beyond Granite installations earlier this year in DC, this work may look familiar.

Tiffany Chung is an acclaimed multimedia artist whose work engages with meaningful themes of migration, shifting geography, human conflict, and environmental distress. With “reconstructing an exodus history…” Chung marks the actual routes of refugees from before, during, and after what we in the United States call the Vietnam War. She purposefully included routes of migration for the Southeast Asian diaspora, not just refugees from Vietnam.

The effects of war always push to envelop people regardless of political and national boundaries. And unlike most world maps I was exposed to in grade school, this embroidered map centers Vietnam and the Asian continent, not the United States and North America.

However, part of the acknowledgement in this work is how political changes in one part of the world can reshape the lives of individuals and families on the other side of the globe. For Tiffany Chung, it’s a personal story; but one that shares similarities with experiences of millions of others.

Check out yesterday’s post on Octavia Butler, and Tuesday’s post on Roger Brown. Thanks for exploring with me.✌🏾

22/12/2023

This week I will be sharing some of my favorite new pieces on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Up second is "Patternmaster" by Bisa Butler.

Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors – but I’m not alone. She was a groundbreaking science fiction author and multiple award winning literary giant whose work perhaps has resonated more even after her passing in 2006.

Butler is known for complex world building while incorporating themes such as racial injustice, gender inequality, environmental degradation, genetic engineering, and human (and sometimes alien) evolution.

In that same world building vein, Bisa Butler (no relation) has used various materials to build this stunning portrait of Octavia Butler. The artist used cotton, silk, vinyl, lace, beads, rhinestones, and other materials that all come together to make a quilt. The quilt is the portrait. Bisa Butler’s layering of fabric and materials mimic the layering of human emotion, speculative fiction, and fantastical scenarios that make Octavia Butler's writing so engaging. Talk about the portrait matching the person. This is it.

Check out yesterday’s post on Roger Brown and stay tuned for the final post tomorrow.✌🏾

21/12/2023

This week I will be sharing some of my favorite new pieces on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Up first is "World's Tallest Disaster" by Roger Brown.

I mostly chose this work due to the stylized colors and shapes of the flames and building. Half of this skyscraper is on fire with the upper floors ravaged in flames and people panicking. In the lower half, we see residents carrying on on with their lives, unaware (?) of the horrific chaos happening above in the very same building. Is the painting allegorical? Probably. But I really appreciate how accessible it is. Roger Brown’s art feels so accessible in part because much of his work was inspired by works of self-trained artists and comic book art. I love this one.

Stay tuned for more observations!

15/12/2023

Brief write up of playhaus, a new experimental --and experiential-- art space in the Union Market area of northeast DC. Love the concept!

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