Modern-Day Slavery Museum Northeast Tour, Day Two, Washington, DC

 

Last time the Modern-Day Slavery Museum graced the streets of DC, it was in the shadow of the Capitol Building on the National Mall, following a very special ceremony at the State Department.
This time — though the setting may have been a bit less monumental, and we arrived to the city with a tad less ceremony — we had a pretty spectacular spot too, setting up our traveling museum at the Church of the Pilgrims just blocks from DC’s bustling Dupont Circle neighborhood.
The day started out quietly, with museum goers coming in small groups, or on their own, to take a leisurely trip through the exhibits…
… but as the day progressed, the crowds slowly grew…
… bringing with them some friends, like this group from the DC-based Polaris Project, one of the country’s largest anti-slavery organizations and a close ally in the fight to end modern-day slavery…
… and this former fellow Floridian, Samuel Jennings, president of the Orlando chapter of the NAACP in 1964 who fought to integrate Orlando’s lunch counters and later visited farmworker labor camps as a Department of Labor inspector. Mr. Jennings came upon the museum by chance on his way to work and stayed to take it all in.
And as the gloaming came to the streets of Washington, the museum truly came to life…
… with dozens of people filling the grounds, conversations in every corner, and promising new connections taking shape, giving hope that the awareness created on this day would not be in vain.
Next stop: Philadelphia!