COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
Statement of Introduction
Alma Thomas Way Designation Act of 2024
May 24, 2024
Today, along with Councilmember Brooke Pinto, I am introducing the Alma Thomas Way
Designation Act of 2024. This legislation would symbolically designate 15
th
St. NW between
Church St. NW and Q St. NW in Ward 2 as Alma Thomas Way, in honor of the trailblazing
artist, dedicated educator, and Logan Circle resident of more than 70 years.
Born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1891, Alma Thomas moved to the District with her parents and
sisters in 1906. Her parents sought safety following the 1906 Atlanta riot and also desired for
their daughters the secondary education opportunities denied to Black people in Georgia. The
family settled in a townhome at 1530 15
th
St. NW, where Ms. Thomas lived and worked for the
rest of her life. The Thomas family put down roots in Logan Circle, attending St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church on the corner of 15
th
and Church St. and sending their daughters to the
Armstrong Manual Training School, which today is the site of Friendship Public Charter School.
In 1924, Ms. Thomas became the first person to graduate from Howard University’s fine arts
program with a Bachelor of Science degree in sculpture.
For 35 years after graduating from Howard, Ms. Thomas taught art classes at Shaw Junior High
School. The school was segregated, under-resourced, crowded, and poorly maintained, but Ms.
Thomas did not let these limitations interfere with her pedagogy. She opened her students’
horizons, taking them on field trips to cultural sites and museums in the District such as public
libraries, the Library of Congress, the Capitol, Smithsonian museums, the Freer Art Gallery, and
the Duncan Phillip Memorial Galleries. She not only taught her students about art but required
them to produce their own art in a variety of mediums, and exhibited her students’ works
throughout the school building. She wanted her students to see themselves reflected in the art
world, and she celebrated Negro History Week every February, incorporated African American
history into her lessons, and invited Black artists to visit her class and speak with her students. At
Shaw, she also organized the first art gallery in DC public schools, which featured paintings by
Black artists.
While teaching, she continued to experiment with art mediums and styles through practical
experience and higher education. Her early paintings featured watercolors, and over the summers
of 1930-1934, she earned a master’s degree in art education from Columbia University, studying
sculpture and marionettes. In 1943, she helped found the Barnett-Aden Gallery in Truxton
Circle, which was the first Black-owned private gallery in the United States. She served as the
Gallery’s Vice President and on its board for many years. Her work was featured at the gallery,
and the artistic community nurtured there exposed her to new and evolving art forms. She
pursued additional training at American University, taking night classes over a decade studying
Christina Henderson Committee Member
Councilmember, At-Large Hospital and Health Equity
Chairperson, Committee on Health Judiciary and Public Safety
Transportation and the Environment
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
art history and painting. Through these experiences, her artistry evolved, and she explored more
modern art forms such as cubism and abstract expressionism, gravitating toward bright colors in
her work.
In 1960, when she retired from teaching, Ms. Thomas became a full-time painter. She often
worked out of her home studio on 15
th
St., painting the trees and flowers in her yard. In 1964, she
suffered an arthritis flare-up so severe that she feared that she could not continue painting.
However, she adapted her painting style, moving toward pointillism, but creating her own unique
style of dabbing many vibrant colors of paint in geometric patterns that represent nature,
emotions, and senses. Signature works during this period, many inspired by her garden and the
District’s nature, include Air View of Spring Nursery (1966), Resurrection (1966), Wind,
Sunshine and Flowers (1968), Pansies in Washington (1969), Snoopy--Early Sun Display on
Earth (1970), Springtime in Washington (1971), Evening Glow (1972), and Cherry Blossom
Symphony (1973). Color and light are a signature aspect of her seminal works; as she explained,
"Color is life, and light is the mother of color."
In addition to showing her work at the Barnett-Aden Gallery, her work was featured in exhibits
at American University in 1958 and at the Howard University Gallery of Art in 1966, when she
was 75 years old. In 1972, at the age of 81, she became the first African-American woman to
have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In that same year, the Corcoran
Gallery of Art also featured her work in a solo exhibit, which was attended by Mayor Walter
Washington who designated September 8 as “Alma Thomas Day.” In 1976, her painting Red
Roses Sonata (1972) was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her works were also
shown at museums in Baltimore, Boston, and New York. She died in the District in 1978 after a
life spent honoring beauty, creativity, education, and community care. Her home was placed on
the National Register of Historic Places soon after her passing, and by designating the road in
front of her home as “Alma Thomas Way,” the Council can uplift her legacy in our community.
______________________________ ______________________________ 1
Councilmember Brooke Pinto Councilmember Christina Henderson 2
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A BILL 10
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 15
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To symbolically designate 15
th
Street, N.W., between Church Street, N.W. and Q Street, N.W., 19
in Ward 2, as Alma Thomas Way. 20
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 22
act may be cited as the “Alma Thomas Way Designation Act of 2024”. 23
Sec. 2. Pursuant to sections 401, 403a, and 423 of the Street and Alley Closing and 24
Acquisition Procedures Act of 1982, effective March 10, 1983 (D.C. Law 4-201; D.C. Official 25
Code §§ 9-204.01, 9-204.03a, and 9-204.23), the Council symbolically designates 15
th
Street, 26
N.W., between Church Street, N.W. and Q Street, N.W., in Ward 2, as “Alma Thomas Way”. 27
Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement. 28
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal 29
impact statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, 30
approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a). 31
Sec. 4. Effective date. 32
This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 33
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of congressional review as 34 provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 35
24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of 36
Columbia Register. 37