PUBLIC PROTEST AS A CLAIM TO CITIZENSHIP: TWENTIETH-CENTURY OCCUPATIONS OF WASHINGTON, D.C. AND THEIR ROLE IN PUBLIC MEMORY

Abstract

The National Park Service (NPS) serves as the steward of many of the nation’s most significant landscapes, including the civic spaces in the District of Columbia. Not only is this federal agency responsible for preserving public lands, it is also tasked with interpreting the natural and cultural importance of its over 400 units. As caretaker and storyteller of federal lands, the NPS directly participates in shaping public perceptions about the past. The agency, however, has struggled to adequately interpret the stories of all Americans, particularly those who challenged federal authority.

To better understand the National Park Service’s process for interpreting contested narratives, this dissertation analyzes two twentieth-century occupation protests that took place on Park Service land in the capital. I consider the NPS’s role in facilitating and later interpreting the Bonus Army March, during which World War I veterans occupied Anacostia flats (1932), and the Poor People’s Campaign, which included the construction of a small city on the National Mall (1968). Both demonstrations took place over the span of several weeks, making them unique and unprecedented events in the social landscape of protest.

Examining the history of these political protests in the context of the agency’s interpretive pedagogy and practice, this study uses unexamined primary sources and oral histories conducted by the author to examine how Washington, DC and its public lands function as a platform for making claims to citizenship. Interviews with NPS park rangers, chiefs of interpretation, and superintendents, illuminate the legacy of the Bonus Army and Poor People’s Campaign demonstrations, document how parks are interpreting this legacy, and guide recommendations for creating interpretation that entails a more inclusive historical process.