OUDC at Mt. Zion Female Union Band Cemetery

The participants of Operation Understanding DC (OUDC) recently attended a program at Mt. Zion Female Union Band Cemetery in Georgetown, Washington DC. They learned from Lisa Fager of Black Georgetown about the history, abandonment, and process of restoration of this resting place. Once a sheltering stop on the Underground Railroad, it also marks a significant era of Black life in the nation's capitol. 

Thanks to the staff of OUDC and to Ms. Fager.

Folger - McKee Fellows Program

I recently covered a session of the Lily McKee High School Fellows on assignment at the Folger Shakespeare Library. This lively program provides challenging and creative opportunities DC-area teenagers for research, performance, and scholarship in the arts and humanities. 

Thanks to Garland Scott of the Folger for the assignment, and to the students and staff engaged with the program.

Operation Understanding DC | weekend retreat, meeting with Shoah survivors

Operation Understanding DC, a program for Black and Jewish teenagers in the DC area whose mission since 1993 is "... empowering a generation of social justice leaders who will promote respect, understanding and cooperation while fighting to eradicate racism, anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination."

The participants recently visited relevant sites in Farmville and Richmond, Virginia, and returned to DC to hear testimony from two Holocaust survivors,  Peter Feigl and Rose-Helene Spreiregen. They also met with students from an allied program from Atlanta, Georgia, the Black Jewish Teen Initiative.

Thanks to the OUDC students, to Mr. Feigl and Ms. Spreiregen, and OUDC's staff, Dr. Linda J. Mann, Xochi Quetzali Cartland, Kyla Goldsby, and Alix Swann.

I have been documenting OUDC since its founding by Karen Kalish in 1993.

Peter Feigl

Rose-Helene Spreiregen.