By Lyndia Grant
On Sunday, I saw a clip of Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington being baptized, dipped in the water, and becoming a licensed minister over the weekend. The clip showed him thanking God and giving all honor to God.
Lately, I had been listening to inspirational messages by Denzel where I began to notice that he sounded more and more like a preacher. In fact, I told that to my daughter. I shared with her how during a graduation ceremony where he was serving as the guest speaker, he said, “Put God first in everything you do, in everything you need, everything you think you need, and everything I have is by the grace of God.”
This story was of particular interest to me because after Washington won his first Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in the movie “Glory,” I was able to confirm and connect him to the African American Civil War Memorial project.
The Spirit of Freedom Memorial Monument was only an idea in the early 1990s when this project first kicked off. It was then the brainchild of D.C. Councilman Frank Smith in Washington, D.C. He was the elected councilman of Ward One, the community he was responsible for caring for and making things happen. As the founder of this national monument, which pays tribute to 209,145 United States Colored Troops, Smith wanted the students at Garnett-Patterson Middle School to know the story of the Black soldiers. This idea was of particular interest to him. Smith often said, “A new monument is coming, and it will be directly across the street from this school. Lyndia, it would be a shame to build this monument and those students not know what it is all about.” He wanted to take a group of students on an all-expense-paid trip to California, called “The California Dream Trip.”
As the project director, Councilman Smith tasked me with coordinating programs with and for the school. We held meetings with several different school principals, ensuring each would appoint a school coordinator and understand and support what we were doing with the students at Garnett-Patterson Middle School. Working with different school principals was a joy for me and for Smith!
We were blessed to have full support of each principal. They allowed the teacher who was the school coordinator to continue to work with the Civil War Memorial Project, and they always continued to support us in every way.
To go on the “California Dream Trip,” students were selected based on their participation in projects we brought to the school over a few years. Smith created street cleaning projects coordinated by me, which kicked off this series. It was held on a Saturday morning. Students from our program were invited to help clean up the street in the immediate area surrounding their school, followed by a picnic, complete with a grill, hot dogs, chips and cold drinks in a celebration that the job was well done! We all had a great time.
Students participated in oratorical contests, organized by two school coordinators, now retired, Cynthia Woods and Rosa Freeman. Woods was the lead, and it was a joy to work with both teachers. They showed students the movie “Glory” and asked those who wanted to participate in the oratorical contest to prepare speeches. Teachers worked with all student participants in class and selected the top 10 students who had written the best speeches. Those students were invited to give that speech from the stage in our “Freedom Fighters” Oratorical Contest. The topic was “How Can I Be A Freedom Fighter of Today!”
Students wrote speeches about how they would help homeless people; they would develop better child care programs; they would ensure schools had the best quality food in the lunch programs. They came up with many significant programs to share, and each talked about how they could become a Freedom Fighter of today to help people in various categories of need. It was marvelous.
Winners received cash prizes of $300, $200 and $100. The entire school was invited to the auditorium to hear the speakers share their speeches, followed by lunch served to all students. Smith and the board of directors paid for all students who attended the program in the auditorium to have a light lunch treat, sponsored by The African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation.
We had a caterer come in to set up and serve the food after the program.
Then the day came when at least 30 students were selected to go on our “Dream Trip” to Los Angeles. It is indeed a trip I will never forget. I have two young women who are like daughters to me today, women that I still love. Though I met them when they were in eighth grade at Garnett-Patterson Middle School, today both are working in good jobs! Our lives have remained connected. Their names are Shirley Freeman and April Boone. The mothers of both young women are now deceased, and they are almost like my other daughters! They always keep in touch with me. When I have contracts, they get paid to work for me, and they do a great job. The story of these young women is a book that I need to write! We’ve been together for more than 30 years, dating back to when I first began working as project director in 1991 for The African American Civil War Memorial at the Frank D. Reeves Center, where Smith’s field office was located.
Briefly, let me share the story of the California Dream Trip, when these students got the chance to meet Washington in person. As Washington entered the breakfast room, set aside for our event by Sony Pictures executives in Culver City, California, he sat at the first table by the door. The students were in shock; some began to scream. I did not see Washington when he first entered; he just began to go from table to table, greeting the eighth-graders, African American eighth-graders who had never flown on an airplane, low-income students. He was right there in front of them! They all knew who Washington was, of course, because each had seen the movie “Glory” at school. The teachers used that movie to teach them the story of the Black soldiers, officially called the United States Colored Troops (USCT). Washington played his role so well that he received his first Oscar as best supporting actor.
Woods and her assistant Freeman had written a skit based on the movie “Glory.” During our meeting with the actor, they performed their short skit as Washington watched. Then he joined them and thanked them. He talked about how he didn’t even know the real story behind the movie before playing his role, and he told them how important it is to get a good education. He said a lot! It was magnificent!
On Oct. 16, 2018, The African American Civil War Memorial Museum announced the signing of a 99-year lease with its development partner, Community Three Grimke, LLC.
The agreement secured a new home for the African American Civil War Memorial Museum in the historic Grimke School and will allow for vast expansion of the museum exhibits with many new artifacts and a state-of-the-art media theater. One of the new exhibits, “Slavery to the White House: The USCT Heritage of First Lady Michelle Obama,” will explore the story of the first lady’s two ancestors, Jerry Sutton/Suter, 55th USCT, and Ceaser Cohen, 128th USCT, both of whom are listed with their respective regiments on the Wall of Honor of the African American Civil War Memorial.
Scheduled to reopen on July 18, 2025, in a new home, newly renovated by Three Grimke, LLC, with full-scale renovations. In spring 2025, Community Three will deliver a “warm lit shell” to the African American Civil War Memorial Museum, which will undertake a $5 million final buildout of its 12,000-square-foot space. As part of the buildout, the museum will move in with new exhibits.
The museum at Grimke will have its own grand front door and ceremonial porch with a spiral staircase visible from the monument across Vermont Avenue.
Following the Duke Plan for Historic U Street, the museum project will use granite and brick pavers, shrubbery, art and other design techniques to enhance the African American Civil War Plaza and combine the two elements across Vermont Avenue. Expect a reunion of Washington, if his schedule permits, along with our students who are now grown men and women, working and doing good, to come together again some 30 years later! The date of the grand opening of the newly renovated African American Civil War Memorial Museum is Friday, July 18, 2025.
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, visit her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on X @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.
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