Two Rivers Charter School DC History Showcase

Two Rivers Charter School DC Historians A Proud Two Rivers Charter School Class Completes Their DC History Showcase Third Graders at Two Rivers Public Charter School Explain the DC Historian's Pledge Students at Two Rivers Public Charter School Bond Over DC Voting Rights Want Do We Want? DC VOTE! Two Rivers Charter School Students Demand the Vote. Exploring DC History and Washingtoniana at the MLK Library

The third grade classes at Two Rivers Public Charter School spent the fall 2007 semester studying DC History and DC Voting Rights. At the end of the semester, the classes presented a showcase of their findings to their fellow students and DC Vote. With young historians like this, DC will get full democracy in no time!

Video: Voices of a Nation
Two Rivers Charter School DC Historians

Letters to Congress:
Advocating for DC’s Voting Rights in Congress

As part of their final project, each student wrote a letter to Congress expressing a desire for voting rights. Teachers Ms. Elaine and Ms. Katrese then compiled the letters into a book, Letters to Congress: Advocating for DC's Voting Rights.

Below are excerpts from the letters:

"I'm a historian and I want to know why the Senate is filibustering and blocking our right to vote."
Keyon Funderburk

"How come we are being used as a symbol of democracy, but not allowed to have real rights? The Voting Rights Bill should be passed in our Senate…Six countries all fixed the problem and have now given their capital residents a vote. It's our turn to fix the problem."
Tati Gubgera Ashcleva Klinkenbergh

"D.C. should be an example to the rest of the nation, but it is not because we can't vote and voting is the foundation of our democracy! I want to be a Senator when I grow up, but I can't if this keeps up because we don't have a Senator."
Nathaniel Jack Provance

"You can be the B.O.A.T. (brave, observant, active, and thoughtful) by passing the Voting Rights Bill. You can be brave by changing the story of D.C. You can change the law so we can be a powerful and strong capital."
Kayla Tate

"I will burst into flames if you don't let D.C. get to vote!"
Nodiyah Nittyah Satterwhite

"What do we desire? A vote! When do we desire it? Now! Not being able to vote is unjust!"
Samantha Anderson

"People who live in D.C. are passionate about our voting rights. All I am trying to say is, could the other states have some empathy for D.C. and act more respectfully to D.C.?"
Evan Olson

"If you don't pass the Voting Rights Bill of 2006 in the Senate, we will be doomed! How come some other states can tell us what to do and we can't even tell ourselves what to do? We don't want to leave home to have the right to vote."
Chinyelu Winborne

"The capital symbolizes the nation and yet it doesn't speak. Tenacious, majestic leaders come to D.C. to advocate for equal rights and yet D.C. citizens don't receive equal rights. We have emotions, yes we do. Don't you think we want to vote, too?"
Allegra Hatem

Read all of the letters written by the 3rd Grade DC Historians at the Two Rivers Public Charter School, Washington, DC (PDF 428 kb).

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