On November 6, 2024 the day after Election Day I visited Capitol Hill and participated in a Tour of the Capitol. Capitol Hill is one of the many beautiful buildings in the District of Columbia and I had a memorable experience. The tour began at 3:10, and after waiting in line we entered a theatre and watched a 10-11 minute film titled E pluribus unum “out of many, one”. It gave us a gave us a brief summary of the development of the United States and the history of our country and government, it also informed us of how our government is built and functions today. This information was coupled with some beautiful visuals of nature, architecture, and historical events across the United States. After the film, we split up into groups and waited in another short line while they gave each of us headphones to wear so that we could listen to our tour guide. My tour guides name was Roberta and she was very insightful, she had only two rules stay with her and don’t touch the art work. She also told us that there was only 1 thing that we could not photograph, and we later found out that it was the doors that lead on to the current senate floor. In the tour we visited the Old Supreme Court chamber (1810-1860), the central hallway that is also an art gallery, the Rotunda, the old senate chamber from 1810- 1859, and the old house chamber from 1807 -1857. From my perspective I got a darker, antique, vintage vibe from Capitol Hill compared to the Library of congress, which I am using as a point of comparison. I think it is because we visited a lot of old chambers that were lit naturally or with candles. A cool detail was the corn attached to top of the columns in the senate vestibule, an American staple that they added to some European based architecture. I took some amazing pictures of Capitol Hill, and I am truly grateful for the encouragement I received to go from this class.
*This photo of the Old Supreme Court chamber (1810-1860) also known as statutory hall was taken by one of my classmates (Raschell). I couldn’t get one with good enough lighting but she captured it really well.
*This photo of a statue of Rosa Parks and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was also taken by one of my classmates (Raschell).
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