Dr. C.R. Gibbs, renowned DC Historian, does a deep dive on DC Statehood activist Josephine Butler & the lessons from her legacy of self-determination that still echoes today in the face of a rogue, authoritarian regime.
Josephine Butler co-founded the DC Statehood Party in 1971 with Julius Hobson. They not only challenged the community's lack of congressional representation but successfully fought a major highway & an interstate that would have ran through NE DC & displaced thousands of families in the area.
Butler was co-chair of Friends of Meridian Hill that rehabilitated Malcolm X Park where she introduced President Clinton at an Earth Day speech & led a parade of 4,000 people to the US Capitol where she addressed a crowd of 250,000. Josephine Butler died in 1997.
Introductions by Sam PK Collins of the Washington Informer
Closing Remarks by Kymone Freeman DC Delegate Candidate of the DC Statehood Party
