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Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis Posters

 Digital Collection
Identifier: dcpl_036ectc
Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis Posters in Dig DC
Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis Posters in Dig DC

Dates

  • Creation: 1968 - 1969

Creator

Summary

Digitized posters from the EEmergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis collection.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions to accessing this digital collection.

Conditions Governing Use

DC Public Library holds copyright to the posters.

Biographical / Historical

From the 1950s through the 1970s various plans were drafted by local and federal agencies to build a comprehensive urban expressway to link D.C. to the national interstate highway system. In the 1960s The Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis (ECTC) grew out of the efforts of residents in northeast D.C. and Maryland who organized to prevent government confiscation of homes in the path of the freeway. ECTC lobbied public officials; and testified at hearings to prevent the building of the North Central Freeway through D.C and before Congress to curtail funding for highway construction. ECTC spurred the formation of the National Coalition on the Transportation Crisis, which coordinated similar grassroots movements throughout the nation. As a grassroots organization, ECTC relied on public demonstrations, rallies, and meetings to gain support for its cause in the late 1960s. In particular, ECTC was involved in a prolonged demonstration and sit-in at the construction site of the Three Sisters Bridge, held rallies to protest confiscation of homes in the Brookland neighborhood of D.C., and picketed Mayor Walter Washington's home in opposition of freeway construction. ECTC was interested in a number of related issues such as urban planning, environmental issues, home rule, D.C. statehood, and civil rights. It also supported a metrorail system as an alternative to freeways.

Language of Materials

English

Custodial History

A photrapher was comissioned by DCPL in the summer of 2021 to photograph the posters.

Repository Details

Part of the The People's Archive, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Repository

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