Dr. C R Gibbs Lecture on Josephine Butler, co-founder of DC Statehood Party
About this Event
Butler was an active volunteer with the local Democratic Party. However, she was disenchanted with the police violence at the 1968 DNC in Chicago and decided "there was something better I could be doing with my time politically". That was the DC Statehood Party which Butler co-founded in 1971 with Julius Hobson. They not only challenged the community's lack of congressional representation but successfully fought a major highway and an interstate that would have ran through Northeast DC. These plans would have displaced thousands of families in the area.
Butler was co-chair of Friends of Meridian Hill, a group dedicated to rehabilitating Malcolm X Park. This was rooted in efforts to create safe, beautiful spaces for community gathering and family and children enjoyment. In 1994, she introduced President Clinton at an Earth Day speech in the park. Clinton later awarded Butler the National Partnership-Leadership Award. The following year, she organized an Earth Day parade of 4,000 people to the US Capitol where she addressed a crowd of 250,000.
Josephine Butler died in 1997, but the lessons from her legacy of self-determination still echoes in the face of a rogue, authoritarian regime today.
Introductions by Sam PK Collins of the Washington Informer
Closing Remarks by Kymone Freeman DC Delegate Candidate of the DC Statehood Party
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Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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