Marshall Center Holds On to History

Old and New Time Capsules Help Trace Nation's Racial Past, Changes

Yesterday afternoon, at the old 12th Street "Colored" YMCA in the District -- now the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage -- the narrative of America's racial past and progress was celebrated in unusual style: The 81-year-old widow of the Supreme Court justice convened with the great-grandson of former president Theodore Roosevelt.

Then, a time capsule filled with Barack Obama-headlined newspapers was embedded in the historic building, a few blocks off U Street NW. And contents of the building's recently opened 100-year-old time capsule were displayed.

"Oh, this is too much," said Evelyn Fleming, 60, a U.S. Postal Service event coordinator, standing outside as workers removed bricks to install the new capsule.

Mary Dickson, the center's treasurer, nodded and summoned the names of those who once walked the corridors. "If only Langston Hughes could be here," she said. "And Thurgood Marshall."

"They are here, in spirit," Fleming said.

The Marshall center, which houses community groups and social service organizations, has a thing for time capsules. In November, officials unearthed a time capsule that had been buried under the building's cornerstone 100 years ago. Yesterday, they unveiled the contents for the first time: a tattered copy of the Bible and two copies of very wide and very bland-looking newspapers, The Washington Post and the Washington Herald. (Newsstand price: three and two cents, respectively.)

"CITIZENS CAUTIOUS ON DISTRICT RULE," read the headline on the left side of the Herald. "Views at Variance as to Suffrage," a subhead continued. The lead story in The Post: "PLAN INAUGURATION: Hitchcock and Taft Confer on Details of Ceremony." And, in a better-played precursor to the paper's Reliable Source column, another "A1" story read: "ANNA MAY TAKE BONI BACK," with the first paragraph saying quite earnestly: "Princess Helie de Sagan, formerly Miss Anna Gould of New York, will apply for a separation within two months, and will sooner or later rewed her first husband."

In the time capsule placed yesterday, copies of The Post and the New York Times, featuring coverage from the presidential campaign, election and inauguration, were placed inside the same tin box (with protective coverings).

Those who open the capsule a century from now will also see a Black Entertainment Television book, along with a BET flash drive, and a letter written by Charles J. Murphy, chairman of the Thurgood Marshall Center Trust board of directors, that reads in part: "Thus, today, we celebrate not only our past but our future as well. It is my hope and prayer that this building will continue in service for the community for another 100 years."

Before the time capsule ceremony, two of the event's attendees met: Cecilia "Cissy" Marshall, widow of the Supreme Court justice, and Kermit Roosevelt, a retired lawyer whose great-grandfather, as president, laid the cornerstone of the building in 1908, Marshall center officials said. Also in tow: Kermit Roosevelt's 7-year-old granddaughter, who was carrying a teddy bear named "Roosevelt."

Marshall and Roosevelt spoke briefly after their introduction. He had not heard about the building or his great-grandfather's history with the site until recently. "I had never heard of this place. I started looking into it and learned that it's a fascinating place," Roosevelt said. It can be difficult to attend so many historical ceremonies, he acknowledged. "I tend to shy away from them. I don't feel they have much to do with me."

Yesterday's event felt more significant, he said: "We think of this as ancient history, but I have a photo of Theodore Roosevelt holding my father as a young child. I myself knew [the former president's] widow . . . and Theodore Roosevelt, as a young child, witnessed Abraham Lincoln's funeral."

As the day progressed, the Marshall center handed out "Phenomenal Men" awards to six black leaders (including one for President Obama, who did not attend). Awards also went to Walter E. Fauntroy, the city's first congressional delegate; D.C. Council member and former mayor Marion Barry (D-Ward 8); civil rights lawyer Donald Temple; Thomas B. Hargrave Jr., the former YMCA president; and businessman Ibrahim C. Mumin.

Mumin, a longtime community organizer in the surrounding Shaw neighborhood, said the Marshall center almost didn't come to be after the building was cited for fire code violations and was shut down for years. Then, community developers took control and transformed it.

"Someone came to me later and talked to me about the parable and symbolism" of that effort, Mumin said. "You had a Christian executive director of the YMCA, a Jewish developer . . . and a Muslim activist who brought it together."

Indra Klein, the Marshall center's development specialist, snapped photos for the capsule before the ceremony ended. She found a willing subject in Clay Pendarvis, 38, a technology company systems administrator who was serving as a waiter for the event.

"You want to put that up on your Facebook or MySpace page?" Klein asked, laughing, after taking the picture.

Pendarvis said something that, no doubt timeless for a Washingtonian, needs no recording for a time capsule buried in this geography: "I am thinking about going into politics, and I don't need anything to come back and bite me."