Literary Arts Program

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During the early 1970s, protests roiled the city, on issues as varied as the war in Vietnam, environmental justice, civil rights and local control of District government. The culture was also changing radically - young people began expressing their political beliefs through their clothing, music, hairstyles and more. LAP students were encouraged to document these changes, creating photographic essays, poetry, journalism and short stories that reflect a uniquely tumultuous and creative time in the District's history. 

^{Photojournalism students in the Urban Journalism Workshop, 1978. Photograph by Llewellyn Berry, Literary Arts Program Records, The People’s Archive at DC Public Library}

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Throughout the 1980s, D.C. suffered an increase in crime each year. The crack epidemic and rise of AIDS put new strains on residents and institutions alike. Many middle-class residents moved to the suburbs, causing significant declines in city funding and leaving empty storefronts and school buildings. Many of the problems faced by the city are reflected in the students' work - drug abuse and gun violence were frequent topics. At the same time, they were writing about the same things any teenagers in any area of the country might want to write about, music, fashion and sports. 

^{Students producing a video (L to R) Corwin Kirby, Elissa Blount, Peter Burris and Jamie Carter, 1985. Literary Arts Program Records, The People’s Archive at DC Public Library}

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As a result of the challenges of the 1980s, by the early 1990s, the District was on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1995 an unelected control board created by the federal government took over the management of the budget and most day-to-day functions of D.C. Government. This was also when LAP was moved from the Penn Center to Duke Ellington School for the Arts. Students could no longer leave the campus to write about the city so they wrote about their home lives, travels to and from school and celebrity visits to campus. The artwork and writing became more inward-looking and more cohesive - and always reflective of the moment.

^{Students Rick WIlliams working at the Ellington radio station, WDUK, 1990s. Literary Arts Program Records, The People’s Archive at DC Public Library}

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In 2003, David Aaronson, Lew Berry, and Carolyn Jones Howard left the Literary Arts Program, which continues as part of Duke Ellington's Literary Media and Communications Department. Many students who participated in the Literary Arts Program went on to have careers in media and communications. These include

• Kofi Adisa, Associate Professor of English, Howard Community College, Columbia, MD
• Dave Chappelle, Stand-up comedian and actor
• Terry Dawson, Filmmaker
• Barrington Edwards, Chair, Social Studies Department, The Paideia School, Atlanta, GA
• Marta Effinger-Crichlow, Professor, New York City College of Technology. Author, playwright, and documentary filmmaker, her most recent movie is Little Sallie Walker
• Andrea Ferster, Attorney and President of DC Bar (2013-2014)
• Ife Franklin, A professional artist and activist living in Boston. Ife's most recent project is titled The Indigo Project, which honors the lives, histories, cultures and traditions of African people throughout the diaspora with a concentration on the formerly enslaved of North America.
• Tyrus Gaines, Photographer with his own studio in Charlotte, NC
• Polly Hanson, Senior Director, Security Rik Emergency Management, Former Chief of the Metro Transit Police Department
• Essex Hemphill, Poet, performer, activist
• Nestor Hernández, Photojournalist based in Washington, D.C.
• Rev. Kenneth Irby, Pastor, Bethel AME Church, St. Petersburg, FL. He is a former senior faculty member at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
• Chuck Kenney, Photographer with his own studio in Washington, D.C. Was a staff photographer at the White House, assigned to First Lady Michelle Obama.
• Ken Lambert, Staff photographer, The Seattle Times. Ken won First Place in the 52nd Annual White House News Photographers Association Competition.
• Donnell Lewis, Founder and Creative Director of One Creative Source, a graphic design and visual communications office.
• Jane Lincoln, Social worker, activist, fierce knitter
• Elisa Blount Moorhead, Baltimore-based artist, curator and producer. She also wrote P is for Pussy, a raunchy alphabet picture book of double entendres.
• John Parmelee, Professor and Director of School of Communications, University of North Florida
• Angela Peterson, Photographer and editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• Marlene W. Potts, Writer of the Miller's View detective series
• Connie M. Razza, Attorney, Director, The Center for Popular Democracy
• Hansford Rowe III, Jazz fusion bassist, founding member of Gongzilla
• Tony Robinson, CEO & Founder, Robinson Public Affairs
• Kiernan Seth, Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals
• Kamala Subramanian, Artist
• Tanzi West-Barbour, Director of Communications, DC Public Library
• Luci Williams, Journalist, Kansas City Star
• Duane Winslow, Started his photography career doing cookbook photography before moving to Baltimore, where he works in both photography and printmaking.

^{President Obama, Photography by former LAP student Chuck Kennedy.}