Connections and Conversations - A Tale of Two Navy Yards: Washington D.C. and Boston

Throughout U.S. history, war has created new opportunities, even as it has constrained them. Nowhere has this been more true than at Navy Yards. But who benefited from the opportunities? Who imposed the constraints and who battled against them? In Civil War-era Washington D.C., enslaved people, formerly enslaved people, lawmakers, sailors, and soldiers all jostled against each other as the nation prepared for war. Boston during World War II was a very different time and place. But the Navy Yard at Charlestown was also the site of new but constrained opportunities for civilian female workers. Come to this program to think about how their experiences echoed those of Civil War Washingtonians, and how they differed. . . . and how both shaped our world today.