In 1920, Rock Creek Park awarded a contract to run the teahouse at Peirce Mill to an African American woman named Hattie Sewell. But a prominent neighbor’s racist complaints forced Sewell to leave Peirce Mill in the fall of 1921.

A century later, the Friends of Peirce Mill worked with student interns from Howard University to learn more about Hattie Sewell, and to produce a short film about her life and times. But because of the pandemic, they were unable to access crucial records in the National Archives—until now.

In honor of Black History Month, Angela Kramer from the Friends of Peirce Mill will discuss fascinating new information recently uncovered in the National Archives, including the original letter Hattie Sewell wrote to Rock Creek Park in November 1919!