CJM After Sunset: After Hours Pride Party
2025-07-24 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax) | Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
Celebrate WorldPride DC 2025 at the Capital Jewish Museum after hours with the launch of our new special exhibition, LGBTJews in the Federal City. Discover stories of LGBTQ+ Jewish Washington with curator spotlight talks, enjoy drag performances, sip on a lavender gin and tonic, show your pride by making your own button, and get bedazzled with SparkleLynn Designs. Food for purchase from Catalyst Hot Dogs Food Truck (includes vegetarian and vegan options).
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Conference on Public Archaeology
2025-08-08 09:30 - 2025-08-09 18:45 | The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
This meeting will be hosted by Archaeology in the Community and is intended to provide a dedicated space for public-minded archaeologists and cultural heritage practitioners to share their experiences and expertise. Over two days, we plan to host a series of workshops, panels, round-tables, and special events geared toward addressing some of the most pressing issues in the discipline.
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Lauri Willialmson Book Signing
2025-08-10 14:00 - 16:00 | O Museum in the Mansion, 2020 O Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036
ABOUT LAURI WILLIAMSON: Lauri is the Chief Experience Officer at DC Tours and Events. She wears many hats – author, tour guide, event planner, gifting company owner, & storyteller & she wouldn’t have it any other way.
With a passion for connecting with people & sharing the hidden stories of Washington, DC, she’s built a career that blends her love of history, hospitality, & creativity. As a Certified Meeting Planner, Certified & Licensed Tour Guide, & Member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, DC, she is dedicated to crafting meaningful experiences for her guests, whether through her tours or her work as a professional event planner.
Whether you have visited Washington, DC several times or have been here all your life, “111 Places In Black Culture in Washington, DC That You Must Not Miss” will give you some surprising new insights into the city. You’ll learn about the largest attempted escape from slavery on record, the first Black millionaire, and the official dance of Washington, DC.
This book sheds new light on some beloved businesses and introduces others that are sure to become favorites. It weaves its way through all four quadrants of the city to help locals and experienced travelers learn more, explore more, and do more.
Experience a more inclusive look into the city with historical narratives that have often been overlooked or excluded. Includes a signed copy of Lauri Williamson’s book: “111 Places in Black Culture in Washington, DC That You Must Not Miss”
Proceeds will benefit: O Museum in The Mansion Programs. Advanced Online Reservations Required!
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Film Screening and Panel Discussion: "It's All About Palestine"
2025-08-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Alliance for Peacebuilding, 1800 Massachusetts Ave NW # 401, Washington, DC, 20036, United States
“It Is All About Palestine” documents the courage of student activists confronting repression and the moral clarity of a generation refusing silence. Please join the Museum of the Palestinian People as they screen this powerful documentary featuring local student activists followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Dina AbouZeid, and a special panel including subjects in the film. Film screening starts at 6pm, doors open at 5:30pm. Light appetizers to be provided. Please RSVP by CoB Tuesday, August 19th!
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Trailer: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mW5SgLaOqFFES0CBH2SZUj7LK5tL1XWS/view Dina AbouZeid is a documentary filmmaker whose journey into the field began after a decade in television and news media. Seeking to go beyond headlines and into the heart of human experience, she founded Media Vision Co. in Egypt with a mission to capture memories, uncover untold stories, and offer a clearer vision of the present. With over 25 years of experience, Dina has produced impactful content for major broadcasters including Al Jazeera, Al Hurra, Alghad, and Al Araby. Her documentaries, which often explore themes of identity, social justice, and global awareness, combine investigative depth with emotional resonance. Now based in the United States, Dina continues to amplify marginalized voices through film. She believes that honest, compassionate storytelling can make film a tool of resistance and a beacon of truth and transformation.

Echoes of Activism: Using Oral History Interviews to Craft a Lesson Plan
2025-08-23 09:00 - 13:00 | Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS, 200 Douglas Street NE, Washington, DC, 20002
Sari Leigh will present the Mind, Body and Justice Oral History project at the Social Justice Curriculum Fair. The workshop will help educators to design a lesson plan for health activism using oral history archives in the DC DIG Library.
In this 50-minute interactive session, participants will engage with excerpts from the Mind, Body, and Justice Oral History Project and other DC-based archives. Through guided deep listening, we will examine themes of community care and resilience, and explore how to translate these narratives into culturally responsive, student-centered lesson plans that uplift local voices and histories.
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The Light Looks Like Us: An Intergenerational Conversation
2025-08-30 12:00 - 15:00 | 1827 Wiltberger Street Northwest Washington, DC 20001, 1827 Wiltberger Street Northwest, Washington, DC, 20001
Prominent DC-based poet and author Tony Keith Jr. will be reading and in conversation with local LGBT+ youth authors Hakim Rose, Oliver Lin, and Lauryn Ciardullo, whose work has been published in Shout Mouse Press? first LGBTQ+ anthology, The Light Looks Like Me.
Shout Mouse Press is a DC-based nonprofit organization that coaches young people to write and publish diverse and inclusive books. We’d love for you to join us for this intergenerational reading and conversation about writing and love.
This event is being executed in collaboration with The DC LGBTQ+ Community Center and their OutWrite DC programming.
*ASL interpretation will be provided for the panel
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Lilac Peril Book Launch
2025-09-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Lost City Books, 2467 18th St NW, Washington, DC, 20009
Celebrate the launch of Lilac Peril’s Issue 01, a collection of 30+ trans contributors writing on the topic TABOO. When the fact of our existence is taboo, what do trans people still not want to talk about, even amongst ourselves? Issue 01: TABOO gestures towards this question, taking a hard look at what we would often rather ignore. Join us for a nights of readings, light refreshments, and an auction to benefit the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network. Lilac Peril is a DC-based small press by and for trans writers, with a particular interest in the subversive and experimental.
Registration is not required.

DC Oral History Collaborative Community Meetup
2025-09-08 18:00 - 19:30 | DC History Center, 801 K St NW, Washington, 20001, United States
Calling all local oral historians: HumanitiesDC and the DC History Center are offering their next oral history meetup in Washington, DC!
Join us at the DC History Center on Monday, September 8 at 6 pm to be in community with other oral historians. During the meetup we’ll share ideas, talk through challenges and obstacles, and celebrate successes. You do not have to be a practicing oral historian to participate but come prepared to learn from others and to share your own thoughts, perspectives, and experiences.
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The DC Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) documents, preserves, and celebrates the lived experiences of all Washington, DC residents and communities through oral history. The Collaborative accomplishes this by providing training, mentorship, resources, programs, and funding to current and aspiring oral historians. The Collaborative is a partnership of HumanitiesDC and the DC Public Library.
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KICKOFF EVENT! Salon Redux: In the Spirit of Georgia Douglass Johnson
2025-09-09 18:00 - 20:00 | The Writer’s Center at Howard University, 2441 6th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20059, United States
You are invited to attend the launch of Salon Redux: In the Spirit of Georgia Douglas Johnson, a citywide public humanities project honoring DC’s literary and cultural history on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at 6PM at the Howard University Writing Center. Inspired by Johnson?s iconic S Street Salon, where she hosted Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, May Miller and many others, this initiative invites DC residents to host small gatherings that foster dialogue, culture, and connection. At the kickoff, the official toolkit will be unveiled. Let’s come together, honor the past and spark conversations for today.
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At Issue: The Erasure of Black History Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning Historian Marcia Chatelain and New York Times White House Correspondent Erica L. Green
2025-09-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Hill Center DC, 921 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, 20003
Learn more here: https://www.hillcenterdc.org/event/at-issue-the-erasure-of-black-history-featuring-pulitzer-prize-winning-historian-marcia-chatelain-and-new-york-time-white-house-correspondent-erica-l-green/
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The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling A. Brown
2025-09-13 09:00 - 17:30 | Trinity Washington University Main Hall, 125 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC, 20017, United States
Sterling A. Brown’s preeminence as a poet, author, literary critic and folklorist is unchallenged. He was also Washington, DC’s first poet laureate, a famed educator for 40 years at Howard University– teaching some of the country’s most popular writers– and the controversial Editor for Negro Affairs of the Federal Writers Project, which was part of the Project Works Administration.
Join a host of esteemed scholars, authors and poets, including Gabbin, James Early, E.Ethelbert Miller, Brian Gilmore, Teri Cross Davis, Niani Kilkenny, Marita Golden, Dana Williams, Mark Sanders, Maurice Jackson, Cornelius Eady, Keith Leonard, Kenny Carroll Jr., Tricia Elam Walker, Marcia Davis, Kenneth Caroll,III, jonetta rose barras, Amy Horowitz andJoshua Myers. Brown’s granddaughter, Laura Dennis, is a special guest speaker.
Register Here

Photography 2025 Opening Reception
2025-09-16 18:30 - 20:30 | Hill Center DC, 921 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, 20003
The annual Photography Gallery is back. Juried by Philip Kennicott.
Philip Kennicott is the Pulitzer Prize-winning art and architecture critic of The Washington Post. He has been on staff at The Post since 1999, first as classical music critic, then as culture critic. In 2011, he combined art and architecture into a beat focused on visual culture and public space.
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Immigration Film Festival: Local DMV Stories
2025-09-19 18:00 - 22:00 | The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW 2nd Floor, Washington, DC, 20009, United States
Connect with your DMV community at this special screening taking place at The Festival Center in Adams Morgan. Enjoy delicious, locally-made Ghanaian, Mexican, and Iraqi Kurdish food (included with ticket), get a henna design from local artist, Amad Mahbub, and connect with organizations working right now in DC to support, protect, and champion our migrant communities. We’ll be screening three short films showcasing immigrants in the DMV and hear from all three filmmakers after the screening. Don’t miss out on this incredible community event!
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Immigration Film Festival
2025-09-25 18:00 - 2025-09-28 21:00 | Regal Gallery Place, 701 7th St NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
The Immigration Film Fest is hosted by KAMA DC, a volunteer-run nonprofit dedicated to providing a platform for immigrants and refugees in the DMV to share their skills and stories. Now in the festival’s 12th year, we are bringing you a hybrid film festival with virtual screenings for 32 films via Eventive, four in-person screenings in Washington, DC from September 25-28, and a special community screening and gathering on September 19. Help us celebrate and honor the stories on immigrants and refugees at this critical moment in history, when our immigrant communities are facing a perilous and divisive political and legal environment. We hope to see you at the festival!
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Culture Series: 9-Man
2025-09-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library 401c, Conference Center, 901 G Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
To what extent did 9-man volleyball help Chinese immigrants preserve their culture?
HumanitiesDC & Ted Gong Present Culture Series: 9-Man, a conversation with key members of the Chinese American community reflecting on the street sport that continues to unite generations. For more than 90 years, 9-man volleyball has drawn teams from Chinatowns across the United States. In fact, the game is so popular that the last time a rotating competition took place in Washington, DC, it closed Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the FBI Building.
As immigrant identities continue to face challenges, understanding the impact of 9-man volleyball allows for a broader discussion on the importance of cultural spaces. Historical research has led to ongoing conversations about cultural preservation and identity within the Chinese American community, ensuring 9-man remains a thriving sport today.
Join us for a panel discussion exploring how the game’s strict rules, emphasis on community, and longstanding traditions have contributed to cultural preservation across generations. Together, we’ll revisit the rich history of 9-man volleyball in DC and highlight the resilience of Chinese American communities in maintaining their heritage despite adversity.
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Fusion Festival 2025
2025-09-27 09:00 - 18:30 | Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Marion Barry Ave SE, Washington, DC, MD, 20020, United States
Anacostia Arts Center will host the second annual Fusion Festival 2025, powered by WACIF and sponsored by EventsDC, on Saturday, September 27, 2025, at the Anacostia Arts Center in Washington, D.C. The festival, with the timely theme ?Transformation,? returns to Southeast DC with a full day of immersive experiences at the intersection of innovation, culture, and transformation, featuring curated panels, wellness activations, hands-on workshops, and dynamic networking spaces. Learn more about Fusion Festival to see what?s ahead. What to Expect: Entry to all panels, workshops, and sessions; breakfast, lunch, and happy hour; networking and opportunities to practice wellness!
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Together We Stand: A Day of Palestinian Art & Culture
2025-09-27 11:00 - 17:00 | The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW 2nd Floor, Washington, DC, 20009, United States
A vibrant marketplace of vendors offering Palestinian crafts, literature, and food, Dabke workshops, and performances. An introductory class and circle where you?ll learn the art of tatreez. Poetry readings Featured film screenings (stay tuned for the lineup). A central highlight of the two-day event is the GoFundMe Gallery, filled with artwork from Palestinian artists in Gaza. Visitors can bid on pieces, with 100% of proceeds going directly to the artists, strengthening our solidarity by supporting our people directly through art.
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District Hunt
2025-10-04 10:30 - 2025-10-05 16:00 | 1742 Church St NW, 1742 Church St. NW, Washington, DC, 20036
Welcome to the 7th Annual District Hunt – this year’s puzzle adventure for you, your family, your friends, and your co-workers! Each year, the game is designed around a different theme built into the physical and cultural landscape of Washington DC. In 2025, the focus is on Information. This year’s story is Burying the Lede. Every 25 years, eight symbolic objects are chosen to define the culture of Washington, DC. Reports about this ritual also suspect a connected treasure, which has been quietly protected for centuries by a trusted network of individuals. But in 2025, something?s changed. With misinformation on the rise, the protectors are wary of whom to trust and have called for help. Teams are invited to demonstrate whether they are worthy of preserving history.
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Home Rule Music Festival
2025-10-04 13:00 - 21:00 | Alethia Tanner Park, 227 Harry Thomas Way NE, Washington, DC, 20002, United States
The Home Rule Music Festival returns for its fall edition on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at Alethia Tanner Park. This free, family-friendly festival celebrates Washington, D.C.?s rich music and cultural legacy with a full day of live performances, vendors, and community connections. The lineup features Joantz Workshop, Brandon Woody, Junkyard Band, Bongo District, Dogo du Togo & the Alagaa Beat Band, and a youth band showcase. Attendees can explore food, art, vinyl, and small business vendors while enjoying go-go, jazz, hip-hop, Latin, and African sounds. Join us for an unforgettable celebration of D.C.’s music, culture, and community pride.
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Humanities Under the Stars - Community Celebration & Fundraiser
2025-10-07 18:00 - 20:30 | Private: 1921 Biergarten at the Heurich House, 1307 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20036
Join us for an unforgettable evening under the stars to celebrate DC’s powerful stories and vibrant communities!
Our first community fundraiser, Humanities Under the Stars, is an outdoor celebration in the Castle Garden at Heurich House Museum. Surrounded by community, culture, and conversations, we will honor the stories and people who shape our city while raising critical funds to keep our programs accessible and impactful.
Enjoy drinks, light bites, and a chance to win goodies from local businesses through our community raffle. Most importantly, expect great conversations with fellow supporters who believe in the power of the humanities.
Purchase Tickets
Discounted early bird tickets are available through September 9th (or while supplies last).
Let’s come together to celebrate the stories that connect us and ensure a thriving future for public humanities in DC. We can’t wait to see you under the stars!
For reasonable accommodation requests regarding access and inclusion, including ASL interpretation, please contact info@humanitiesdc.org no later than five business days before the start of this event.

2025 Julian Clement Chase Prizes Award Ceremony
2025-10-16 16:00 - 18:30 | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library 401c, Conference Center, 901 G Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
The George Washington University Writing Program, in collaboration with the Creative Writing program and the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, is proud to award three annual undergraduate Julian Clement Chase Prizes: one for Research Writing on the District of Columbia, one for Creative Writing in Washington, and one for Community Impact in the District of Columbia. The prizes recognize and honor–appetite, boldness, the building of community, and the striving toward humane excellence in undergraduate work engaged with D.C.
Registered Link

CJM After Sunset: Late to the Party Oktoberfest
2025-10-16 18:00 - 21:00 | Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
Continue Oktoberfest celebrations at the Museum after hours. Hear stories about the first German Jews to arrive in Washington, DC with curator spotlight talks, sip on German beers, decorate your own beer stein, compete in trivia, and dance along to klezmer faves! Plus, a cash bar and snacks for purchase. Ticket includes admission to all exhibitions. Must be 21 or older to attend and present a valid ID at the door.

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Culture Series: Snap City - The Art of Roller Skating
2025-10-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library 401c, Conference Center, 901 G Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
What makes the DC-Maryland variation of Style roller skating deserving of official folk-art recognition?
HumanitiesDC & Tasha Klusmann Present Culture Series: Snap City – The Art of Roller Skating. Join us for an unforgettable evening as native Washingtonian and roller skate historian Tasha Klusmann takes us inside the world of Style roller skating. Style skating is a cultural tradition with roots dating back to the 1960s. Klusmann presents her case for Style being recognized as an official folk art.
Her groundbreaking research traces the history of the DC-Maryland variation of Style from its beginnings to today’s new generation of skaters referred to as “Snappers.” Be among the first to see short takes of exclusive footage from Our Family Skate Association’s National African American Roller Skating Archive documentary, Snap City (currently in post-production), followed by a Q&A.
Snap City highlights how the community works to bridge the gap between seasoned skaters and “Snappers” to preserve the area’s unique variation of Style roller skating for future generations.
Don’t miss your chance to grab a selfie with the largest artifact submitted to the National African American Roller Skating Archive. Can you guess what it is?
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Deaf Way Film Festival
2025-10-16 19:00 - 2025-10-19 16:00 | Gallaudet University, Eistad Auditorium, 800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC, 20002, United States
Gallaudet University proudly presents the Deaf Way Film Festival, a four-day celebration spotlighting the creativity, power, and stories of deaf* filmmakers and professionals in the film industry. October 16th-19th, 2025 Mark your calendars for film screenings, engaging panels, art exhibitions, and networking events that center Deaf stories. The festival will be open to the public, including those who do not know about deaf culture or use American Sign Language. *The deaf community is defined as Deaf, Deaf Blind, Deaf Disabled, and hard of hearing.
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Striving to Belong: LGBTQ+ Jews in Orthodox Communities
2025-10-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
This roundtable discussion examines shifts in the Orthodox community towards greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ Jews. Panelists include Peninah Gershman and Rabbi Hyim Shafner, more panelists coming soon. Moderated by Miryam Kabakov.

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How We Be Free: A Virtual Kickback
2025-10-25 12:00 - 13:00
How We Be Free is a Black Fugitive Study Kit that honors the legacy of freedom-seeking ancestors–those who built networks of solidarity, practiced mutual aid, fought for abolition and reparations, and established self-sustaining Black communities. Their visionary blueprints for liberation continue to inspire today’s Black organizers, activists, and cultural workers who carry that legacy forward. The kit includes a deck of playing cards, dice, and an informational booklet with historical context, quotes, and reflective prompts. It is designed to support personal reflection, collective study, ancestral reverence, creative expression, cultural organizing, and more.
Register for the Virtual Kickback to learn more and experience the How We Be Free Study Kit in shared community!
Register here.

Cello Concert with John Kaboff
2025-10-26 13:00 - 13:30 | Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
Concert Cellist John Kaboff will perform works by LGBTQ+ composer, Benjamin Britten, and Jewish composer, Ernst Bloch. Kaboff will discuss how both composers were inspired by the solo cello music of Johann Sebastian Bach and how these cello suites combine complex melody, rhythmical pulse, chord progressions by creating new and innovative rhythmical patterns and harmonic structure that extended the techniques of composers from prior centuries.
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Voices Series: Multigenerational Stories of Coming Out
2025-10-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
In conjunction with our special exhibition, LGBTJews in the Federal City, hear from members of the LGBTQ+ Jewish Washington community as they reflect on their personal experiences with coming out. With Dana Beyer, Councilmember Evan Glass, and Danielle Pasekoff. Includes access to LGBTJews in the Federal City. Come early to see the exhibit!
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Stories in Motion at Mt. Pleasant Library
2025-10-29 12:30 - 16:00 | Mt. Pleasant Library, 3160 16th St NW, Washington, DC, 20010
The DC Oral History Collaborative will be at popping up at the Mt. Pleasant Library to help library goers learn about oral history and record informal interviews with their friends and family! The oral history booth will feature recording equipment, comfortable conversation space, and guides to help interviewers get started. Interviewers and interviewees will be able to take home their recordings on a flash drive and will learn options for archiving their interviews or conducting longer-form oral histories. There will be no obligation to submit the interviews to any institutional repository, and the booth will center the impact of interviewing and being interviewed.
No RSVP required. We will be tabling at the library all day.

If you don’t ask, you’ll never know!
The DC Oral History Collaborative is a partnership program of HumanitiesDC and the DC Public Library.

DC Zinefest 2025
2025-11-01 11:00 - 16:00 | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001
DC Zinfest is Saturday, November 1st from 11am–4pm at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown DC.
DC Zinefest is an annual, one-day independent event designed to provide a space for zine-makers, self-published artists, and writers to share their work with each other and the Washington, D.C., community. This year, we’ll have 80+ tablers exhibiting their work and interactive workshops throughout the day.
This year, we’re excited to support the workshop, Building Community with Zines in DC with Ipsy Bipsy Studio.
11:30-1:00 at MLK Library, 4th Floor, Room 401-G
During this workshop, Ipsy Bipsy Studio will dive into zine history and its role in underground movements and community building in DC. Participants will then make their own zines inspired by examples through the ages! You’ll also get to hear about exciting funding opportunities and arts and humanities programming from Humanities DC.
