African-American historical sites that are passed by daily with little notice captured the spotlight on Feb. 16 during the third annual African-American Heritage Bus Tour.
Click here to see our video of the tour: http://youtu.be/izAfQOrYRTs
Some 220 people spent more than three hours exploring historic sites in three of Prince George's County's historically black townships – Fairmount Heights, Glenarden and North Brentwood – and surrounding areas.
The tour was sponsored by the Washington Informer Newspaper in partnership with Prince George's African American Museum & Cultural Center, the DC Lottery, Pepco, Capitol Entertainment Services, the Coca-Cola Co., Industrial Bank, Harlem Remembrance Foundation, THEARC and Southwest Airlines.
"If we don't accent our history, who will?" said Fairmount Heights Mayor Lillie Thompson Martin, who served as a tour guide on one of the six buses.
Martin, a lifelong resident of Fairmount Heights which is one of the oldest and largest African-American communities in the county, tossed aside a tour script saying, "I always talk from my heart."
As the bus slowly rolled through one neighborhood, she pointed out sites such as the Pittman house on Eastern Avenue, which was the family home of architect William Sidney Pittman and his wife Portia, the daughter of Booker T. Washington. The Pittman's were among the earliest families to settle in Fairmount Heights.