Its been almost five decades since that class trip to Washington D.C.. It was an eye opener for many of us who had never really ventured out of northern New England. My Aunt and Uncle had taken me to Fenway park the year before. That was my first exposer to a really big city, but this was a totally different experience entirely.
During the bus trip down the eastern seaboard it seemed like one big city from New York to Baltimore. When we got into the city limits of Washington we saw for the first time the Washington we never read about in our school books.
Washington D.C. Is a “Black” city. African America people everywhere. Coming from lily white Vermont where seeing a black person was an anomaly the reverse was true for Washington D.C. Then we noticed the litter…everywhere. The businesses all had iron bars across the front of their windows and doors. It seemed that every forth establishment was a liquor store.
We arrived at our hotel. Our tour of the Federal government portion of Washington would start tomorrow. Things would start smoothly and later it would get a little wild.
To be continued.