Southeast D.C. youth perform a ‘Blacks in Wax’ encore at the National Archives

By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to The AFRO

An enthusiastic, talented cadre of youth from Southeast D.C. delivered stirring monologues that honored some of the District’s Black icons on the steps of the National Archives as part of a four-day festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The youth were all scholars from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center’s (SETLC) “Blacks in Wax” after school program. On June 5, they performed excerpts from a larger program that took place in March 2026. Both events celebrated D.C. and American history. 

Cora Masters Barry, a prominent community advocate and former first lady of the District of Columbia, serves as the founder and CEO of the Recreation Wish List Committee. The organization was founded in 1994 and operates the SETLC, which was founded in 2001. 

Masters Barry spoke with The AFRO about Blacks in Wax’s 20-year history and how the program has helped change and better the lives of hundreds of youth participants. 

“We’ve done a lot over the past two decades, performing at the MLK Library, the Kennedy Center and the White House, but being asked to showcase the talents of our youth at the National Archives is a first and a real honor,” Masters Barry said. “We held our final performance earlier this year in March at The ARC in Southeast D.C., but when we got the invitation, I knew we had to go for an encore. However, instead of trying to replicate our full show, we brought with us our “best” of Blacks in Wax.”

Masters Barry said the program was founded with three goals in mind: to build confidence, to educate and to entertain youth and those who support their endeavors.

Still, she said keeping the program going over the years while also increasing the number of youth participants has not been without challenges. 

“The good news is our kids are from D.C. Public Schools,” she said. “The bad news is our kids are from D.C. Public Schools. I know how that may sound, but as an afterschool program, we have to catch our children when we can – when they show up and feel up to the challenge. 

“I’m proud of them – all of them,” Masters Barry continued. “Some of our children, when they first committed themselves to Blacks in Wax, could barely read. Now, they’re learning, memorizing and reciting as much as two pages of text. And they’ve also learned how to act, sing and dance on stage. It’s a full plate for them. But they’ve continued to respond admirably.” 

In an essay addressing the importance of the federal government continuing to fund public schools and allow for the teaching of lessons on gender and diversity, equity and inclusion, Marian Wright Edelman, the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi bar and the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund (1973), addressed the topic with eloquence. 

“In his seminal book, ‘The Mid-Education of the Negro,’ Dr. Carter G. Woodson noted that the inferiority of the Negro is drilled into him in almost every class he enters and in almost every book he studies – it’s a calculated and insidious attack,” said Wright Edelman in response to questions posed by members of Congress during a Senate hearing in February 2025. “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about their actions.”

Wright Edelman emphasized the importance of teaching not just Black children, but all children Black history in an increasingly multicultural nation and world. 

“None of our children and young people can afford mis-education and ignorance about the rainbow of others around them – or forced attempts to make them believe their own history and existence are subversive, marginal, inferior, or only worthy of the back door,” Wright Edelman said. 

With the theme of their performance at the National Archives, “DC: The People, the Culture, The Power,” the young performers from Blacks in Wax honored some of Washington, D.C.’s most beloved African-American leaders who have positively impacted the District’s history, culture and political landscape. 

The list included but was not limited to the following: Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Frederick Douglass, Marion Barry Jr., Carter G. Woodson, Shirley Horne, Tariji P. Henson, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Donnie Simpson and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Masters Barry said she wanted to send out a final message to her performing scholars. 

“I am so very proud of you who– each and every year–have proven that excellence comes in all ages and from all addresses,” Masters Barry said. 

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