As the District grapples with federal interference in local affairs, residents, business owners, and everyone else in between will be able to enjoy the sight of new murals depicting various aspects of District culture and history.
One of those murals, located on Marion Barry Avenue SE, pays homage to The Washington Informer, a Black woman-owned publication that, in the midst of DEI rollbacks and attacks on free speech, continues to tell Black stories unabashedly.
“Oftentimes we don’t get to know a person when we’re just walking past …The Washington Informer office and not investigating what they have done for the community,” said Handirubvi Herring, the multidisciplinary artist behind The Informer mural. “Honoring them in this capacity allows the community to know who they are and recognize that they have done a lot for us [and] tell our stories every day.”
On Sunday, Herring unveiled her mural, titled “Our Voice Matters,” at the end of the 18-day live art exhibition known as the Anacostia Murals Festival.
Herring’s mural counted among 104 pieces that, with the support of Capital Hill Boys Club Artist Gallery and other sponsors, were created along Marion Barry Avenue SE, Minnesota Avenue NE, Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE, Sheriff Road NE, and Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
Located at the art gallery’s Marion Barry SE headquarters, Herring’s mural depicts not only the Congress Heights-based Washington Informer, but the Big Chair, one of Anacostia’s most notable landmarks. With the D.C. flag and butterflies as its background, Herring’s mural shows an edition of The Informer bearing the words “Control the Narrative.” It also includes a rendering of Informer founder Calvin Rolark and his daughter Denise Rolark Barnes, who currently serves as publisher.
Herring, who’s been featured in The Informer before, said her past engagement with the publication inspired deeper inquiry about its history, execution of the mural project, and ultimately a deeper appreciation for the media outlet’s contribution to the local Black community.
“Those that are not informed about the Informer could Google and learn about it,” Herring told The Informer. “But those who know The Washington Informer, I wanted that to be something that they can see. I wanted to say a thank you to the founders, as their contributions to positive and uplifting stories for the community mean a lot.”
Looking Back: The 2026 Anacostia Murals Festival
From May 1 to May 18, the Capital Hill Boys Club Artist Gallery created open-air art museums across portions of Northeast and Southeast where artists conducted live mural paintings, public art tours and artist talks, youth workshops and live performances.
On Saturday, the gallery unveiled more than 30 murals during a community function at 3935 Minnesota Avenue NE hosted in collaboration with The Chocolate City Experience, Minnesota Avenue Main Street, H Street Main Street, Deanwood Heights Main Street, and Marshall Heights Community Development Organization.
As art gallery co-founder Mark Garrett explained, the collaboration was a testament to a bond that he and Dietrich Williams have created with Dee Dwyer of The Chocolate City Experience at their inception as a hub for creatives.
“We’ve been rocking with Dee for a long time, and it’s important for us to continue to do that,” Garrett told The Informer. “We are a part of a growing niche of community members that give a damn and activate. That’s why this whole thing is important. When we all work together, we can create a lot of great things.”
In 2021, Garrett and Williams used the D.C. Arts Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ East Arts Grant to launch their community murals program, which at the time funded projects on Minnesota Avenue NE and Hayes Street NE. Another infusion of funds allowed them to open the Capital Hill Boys Club Artist Gallery at its Marion Barry Avenue SE location, where they’ve since conducted a bevy of programming.
One of those programs was the Anacostia Murals Festival, which started in 2024 with 74 artists.
This year’s art festival builds upon the inaugural event with more than 100 murals across five corridors, under the purview of 100 artists. Since October, Garrett and Williams have organized artists hailing from the District, as well as various parts of the U.S. and world. They’ve also conferred with local businesses, main street organizations, advisory neighborhood commissions, churches, and other entities in what they’ve called a real-time revitalization of historically neglected communities.
“One of the things we wanted to do was create a mural festival to build off inclusion … because most of the murals festivals that’s going on aren’t run by artists,” Williams told The Informer. “They aren’t run by artists who’re currently practicing, so we wanted to do something inclusive that was artist and community-forward.”
By the time of the May 16 mural unveiling near Minnesota Avenue NE, close to 100 murals total had been completed, including that bearing the image of NeeNee Taylor, co-founder of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams and the Free DC Project.
Taylor’s mural, painted by veteran artist Jay F. Coleman, currently sits on a wall on the back of 3919 Benning Road NE, facing the parking lot where The Chocolate City Experience took place. Her image stands alongside refurbished paintings that other artists completed of D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Madame C.J. Walker, and W.E.B. Dubois.
“The teens could not recognize [any] face on this wall when they were redone other than Malcolm X, MLK, and NeeNee,” Williams said as he described an encounter he had with young people during the earlier part of May. “It’s big for us to make sure that we honor people who are still alive, because it’s our opinion and our vantage point that when we wait until people die, we lose people who don’t die in the fray, who are just as equally as important.”
Taylor, a Ward 7 resident who grew up in Stoddert Terrace, co-founded Harriet’s Wildest Dreams in 2021 after serving with Black Lives Matter DC and Black Lives Matter Global Network. She often describes herself as a modern-day Harriet Tubman, primarily due to her role as a conductor for “direct action, rapid response, and community aid.”
During both Trump presidencies, Taylor stood among those who have organized protests and provided resources to the District’s most marginalized. On Saturday, as she looked at her likeness on the back wall of 3919 Benning Road NE, Taylor said the image, and its placement next to Barry, represented the continuum of a generations-long struggle for Black self-determination.
“I found out that I was the only living person on this mural, and that hit me like a ton of bricks,” Taylor said. “That’s a heavy load to carry, but I want to make each one of [the ancestors] proud, and to be able to pass the torch to the next young generation because I don’t believe that we’ll be totally liberated in my lifetime.”
Of significance to Taylor was the manner in which Coleman memorialized her late brother, John F. Cotten.
“I did ask ‘You all can put my brother up and get me next time,’ and the mural had got started already, so it was too late,” Taylor said. “Then I asked, ‘Can you put my brother’s name on my mural?’ and, so on the bottom of my earring, they wrote, ‘Rest in Peace, John,’ so he can still be with me.”
Thinking About the Youth
Dwyer, a prolific photographer who’s been hosting The Chocolate City Experience since 2019, said that it was imperative for the District’s youngest residents to experience remnants of what she and her peers enjoyed decades prior.
“It’s really important, especially right now where we don’t have a lot of activities for the kids,” Dwyer told The Informer. “This is a time they need to put the phone down, come jump some Double Dutch, do some hopscotch, interact with one another, and just love up on one another… This is a safe space for us, and also to honor our culture, honor our history, and honor one another.”
For hours on Saturday, hundreds of revelers ate food, supported vendors, played board games, gawked at classic cars lined across a section of the parking lot, and grooved to the sounds of DJ RWEONTHEAIR? Later, well after Paul “JusPaul” Spires fulfilled his obligation as master of ceremonies, go-go band TOB kept the multigenerational audience bouncing well into the night.
During an election season that’s become bitter at times, Dwyer said her event shows the power of teamwork.
“We moving together as a collective,” Dwyer said. “That’s what we need to do. Forget about the accolades. Everybody got to be on the same page.”
On the day preceding The Chocolate City Experience, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro revealed plans to prosecute parents of young people found breaking local curfew laws. This announcement came amid complaints about mass gatherings of young people in the District’s commercial areas.
Long before she spoke at the mural unveiling, Taylor said that every Black person should be concerned about the Trump administration’s latest move against the District.
“They’re not just coming after youth, they’re coming after Black people [as a whole],” Taylor told The Informer. “I need the people to get on board… And that’s my goal. To actually protect the youth, but also educate the people that the youth is just a facade of what’s to come and what they’re trying to build.”
Art as a Tool for Grassroots Education
Earlier this month, the D.C. Council, in lieu of approving emergency curfew legislation, passed a permanent curfew law allowing the mayor’s designation of curfew zones. As discussions about funding recreational activities continue, Dwyer posited The Chocolate City Experience as a prototype for what lawmakers can accomplish beyond the halls of the John A. Wilson Building.
“When we talk about the Chocolate City Experience, we’re in action. We’re with each other. We’re making each other feel good,” Dwyer told The Informer. “Hopefully it will … bleed out into other communities, so we can set the tone … and bring back the good old days.”
The Metropolitan Police Department, which deployed forces at the mural unveiling, reported no incidents. Those who evoked the spirit of community in their remarks included Dwyer, Taylor and H Street Main Street executive director Anwar Saleem.
WPGC 95.5 FM’s Poet Taylor also took to the mic, recognizing Taylor as a strong, consistent voice for marginalized Black people. In her remarks, she encouraged the revered organizer to bask in the moment and prepare for the fight ahead.
“You are not just carrying Harriet Tubman’s spirit. You are carrying the spirit of every Black woman who refused to accept injustice quietly,” Taylor said. “So may this mural remind you, especially on the days when the work feels heavy, that you are not carrying this movement alone. Your fingerprints are all over this generation’s fight for freedom, justice, and liberation. You are helping us raise a new wave of freedom fighters bold enough to love Black people out loud and protect this village by any means necessary.”
Coleman, who painted the mural of Taylor using one of Dwyer’s photographs, expressed his hope that youth will grow inspired, not only from his example as an artist, but Taylor’s status as a living legend.
“When you’re doing things on the grassroots level, it’s not always about money,” Coleman said. “Sometimes it’s about timing and presence. We’re in an ahistorical time, so a lot of youngins don’t read. They don’t know who our heroes are because they don’t read, and they’re encouraged not to read.”
Coleman, known to many as JAHLION, has a portfolio that includes an Anacostia-based mural of Barry and that of Charles Hamilton Houston, located in the lobby of the elementary school named in his honor. Once the newly modernized Malcolm X Elementary opens, community members will see Coleman’s painting of the Black Nationalist figure.
For the time being however, they can bask in the glory that’s Coleman’s depiction of Taylor.
“If the kids come to school or the [nearby] mosque every day….and they get to see this, it makes the wheels start turning,” Coleman said, “and then maybe they’ll start inquiring, and they’ll start looking up some of these people. We got to encourage inquiry again because our kids don’t know, and we’re getting dumbed down. It’s our duty to lift as we climb and pull the youngins up.”
