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Alexandra Lane

Alexander Lane joined the Association in 2011 after serving as an intern conducting research on White House history topics, including African Americans at Decatur House. In addition to research, she currently manages the Association’s image collection and database and supervises her department’s interns and volunteers. She holds a master’s degree in Public History from American University.

  • Scholarship

    John Gadsby: Hotelier and Slave Owner in the President's Neighborhood

    For nearly four decades until 1836, John Gadsby was the premier hotelier of Alexandria, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. He leased and operated the City Hotel and Tavern in Alexandria, as well as, the Indian Queen in Baltimore, and ended his career in Washington, D.C. with the Franklin House and the highly esteemed National Hotel. His hotels were considered state

  • Scholarship

    Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C.

    Congress passed the Compensated Emancipation Act to end slavery in the District of Columbia and President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law on April 16, 1862. Three years later, after the Civil War ended and after the 1865 ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution officially abolishing slavery nationwide, African Americans in the District began to celebrate April 16 as a holiday.