Back in mid-December, we came together to properly welcome the John Lewis mural into the community. It was a beautiful day worth celebrating properly. Here are some photos from that wonderful day, along with some insights from Dietrich Williams, one of the artists who, together with Mark Garrett, brought this beautiful piece into the world.
I spoke with Dietrich on what having this mural on the Hill means to him and here are some of the things he had to say.
“For us, creating the piece has a lot of meaning…. Some of the change [around Capitol Hill] is good and needed but there are many elements and fabrics that don’t exist anymore.”
Dietrich’s family goes back several generations in Washington. He told me about how his grandmother, now 89 years old, was the first female head chef at Union Station. She was a big Redskins fan and would cook for anyone and everyone on Sundays at her home in what we now call Hill East. Dietrich reminisced about the feeling of normalcy and unity that pervaded his memory of growing up on the hill.
“Capitol Hill is a great community and it was a great community to grow up in from 3rd to 19th Street.” A thoroughly middle class community, crime and other disturbances didn’t really affect the neighborhood unless they came up from Navy Yard or perhaps dropped north from what used to be the Florida Avenue Market. But the change around the neighborhood looks a lot like small things: One of them is the Hine School.
“No one talks about Eastern Market being a basketball Mecca. There were three full courts and two individual courts at Hine Middle– they gave trophies for competitions every week. It was truly equal for boys and girls.” When Hine Middle School was consolidated with Eliot Middle School, many of the people who went to that school lost their memories along with the building. And the neighborhood lost basketball courts, and places for young people to hang out and just be, says Dietrich. “Sometimes what Capitol Hill needs is not what the [current] community needs– for instance, not more condos, but more affordable housing, at least 10% [affordable].”
With the John Lewis mural, Dietrich and Mark wanted to create a symbol focusing on a person who is the epitome of inclusivity and equality. “I wanted everybody to help create something permanent, and be a part of it. Something that would not go away… The mural for John Lewis is for everybody. For the kids who went to Hine, who no longer have a home to come back to.”
“I wanted people to be able to tell their own story that is going to have a permanent space and a lasting impact, as a collaborative effort between old Capitol Hill and new Capitol Hill.”
Dietrich mentions that, as he and Mark worked on the mural, people would come up to talk to them about their experiences in DC and their connection to the Hill. Sometimes, he felt, people just wanted to be heard. The mural became a confessional of sorts: a place to share impressions about what is important and what brings us together. A gentleman shared his journey to the Hill, for instance, moving away from Randle Highlands to Anacostia, to 4th Street– as his parents sought to place distance between themselves and Black families moving to those neighborhoods. The man was apologetic but undeterred in sharing this journey where he realized he was different from his family and did not agree with them. Dietrich tells me there were many powerful moments like those over the months of painting– moments where seeing a Black face going up on the side of the wall, permanently, meant that something special and truly powerful was happening.
If you go:
The John Lewis mural is located in the northwestern corner of 13th Street SE and Pennsylvania Ave SE, on the wall of HIS Grooming, 1242 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. The mural can be accessed anytime via the Sunoco Gas station on the corner.
