Washington DC Heritage Trail project

In October 2013, Dana Ellyn began her newest big painting project. She is using the Cultural Tourism DC Neighborhood Heritage Trail guides to inspire a new series of paintings. She has started with the Downtown Heritage Trail, "Civil War to Civil Rights" which begins just steps from the front door of her studio.

Dana Ellyn   www.danaellyn.com











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Anacostia Heritage Trail 18 The Sage of Anacostia
Follow the Drinkin' Gourd

The American folksong Follow the Drinking Gourd was first published in 1928. The Drinking Gourd song was supposedly used by an Underground Railroad operative to encode escape instructions and a map. These directions then enabled fleeing slaves to make their way north from Mobile, Alabama to the Ohio River and freedom. Taken at face value, the "drinking gourd" refers to the hollowed out gourd used by slaves (and other rural Americans) as a water dipper. But here it is used as a code name for the Big Dipper star formation, which points to Polaris, the Pole Star, and North.
(source: http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/ )
fdouglass
Follow the Drinkin' Gourd
(Frederick Douglass)
16"x20"
acrylic on canvas