Charles Thomas Lewis, grand nephew of Alma Thomas, with Susan Talley, who established the Friends of Alma Thomas group more than a decade ago. They are holding the commemorative street sign DC Councilmember Christina Henderson presented to Lewis. “I think this is a wonderful recognition for her,” he said. “I am truly thankful for this.” | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
Known for her radiant abstract paintings, Alma Thomas has received greater art world recognition over the past decade. A local elected official got the ball rolling on the latest honor in her adopted hometown
WASHINGTON, D.C. — IT’S OFFICIAL! The street on which Alma Thomas (1891-1978) lived, worked, and found inspiration for nearly 70 years has been designated “Alma Thomas Way.”
A brief ceremony was held May 21 to celebrate the latest recognition of Thomas, the Washington, D.C., artist and educator whose radiant abstract paintings are in the collections of the Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and numerous other institutions.
About 30 people gathered in the rain at 1530 15th Street, NW, in front of the home Thomas’s parents purchased in 1907. DC Councilmember Christina Henderson (at-large), who introduced the bill that made symbolic street renaming possible, spoke briefly.
Henderson expressed appreciation to the current homeowners for hosting the event and summarized Thomas’s background, career, and accomplishments.
Thomas was an important figure in 20th century Washington, who made key contributions to the fields of art and education. She was the first student to earn a fine arts degree from Howard University in 1924; served as founding vice president of the Barnett-Aden Gallery, one of the first black-owned art galleries in the nation (est. 1943); and taught at Shaw Jr. High School for 35 years. Today, she is recognized for abstract paintings inspired by the beauty of nature and space and characterized by rhythmic patterns and exuberant color.
“When we do these street renaming projects, it’s in honor of individuals, but it’s also in an effort to try to elevate and introduce local heroes to folks for the next generation,” Henderson said in a phone interview with Culture Type the next day.
Henderson was joined at the event by DC Councilmember Brooke Pinto (Ward 2), who co-introduced the bill. “I’m just so inspired by Alma Thomas and so many of her contributions and talents and I think in D.C., the fact that she had been so involved in so many of our institutions, from Howard to Shaw (Junior) High School, the White House, and really setting an example for how we can be involved citizens, I think is really important,” Pinto said.
“This is especially important to me because I live just a block away. It’s really going to be a treat to be able see (the new street signs) and honor Alma Thomas every day as I walk by in this community.”
The councilmembers also invited Charles Thomas Lewis, the artist’s grand nephew, who is a lawyer, and Susan Talley, founder of the Friends of Alma Thomas group, to say a few words. Talley, who retired from the U.S. Department of Education, established the group about a decade ago, bringing together artists, collectors, educators, and curators who share her passion for Thomas and efforts to bolster her legacy.
“When we do these street renaming projects, it’s in honor of individuals, but it’s also in an effort to try to elevate and introduce local heroes to folks for the next generation.” — DC Councilmember Christina Henderson
From left, DC Councilmember Christina Henderson, Charles Thomas Lewis, DC Councilmember Brooke Pinto, and Susan Talley, shown moments after the street sign was unveiled. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
“I love Alma Thomas. I love her work. I love who she was as a person. She was a real model of what you would want to be,” Talley said. “I would never have thought we could have had a street named for her. So thank you for coming and sharing in my enthusiasm.”
Following the remarks, the rain began to subside and the small crowd moved to the nearby corner at 15th and Church streets. Henderson led the unveiling, pulling on a long string to remove the cover from a new brown street sign that read “Alma Thomas Way.” When the sign was revealed, those gathered applauded with satisfaction seeing the durable testament to Thomas’s legacy.
The same symbolic sign has also been installed at the other end of the block at 15th and Q streets, where Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church sits. Thomas’s family worshiped at the historic church and she was an active member.
“Thank you for coming out, even in the weather, for what I think is a special occasion to honor a very special woman,” Henderson said. “Her work always brings so much joy and light, so we are glad we could do this.”
“I love Alma Thomas. I love her work. I love who she was as a person.… I would never have thought we could have had a street named for her. So thank you for coming and sharing in my enthusiasm.”
— Susan Talley, Friends of Alma Thomas
Alma Thomas (1891-1978) with her work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition in 1972. | Unidentified photographer. Alma Thomas papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Alma Thomas lived at 1530 15th Street NW, for more than 70 years. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also part of Washington’s African American Heritage Trail and a contributing property to the Greater Fourteenth Street Historic District. | Photo via TTR Sotheby’s International Realty
The House on 15th Street
BORN IN COLUMBUS, GA., Thomas migrated to Washington with her family when she was a teenager. A year later, when the Thomas family moved into the red brick Italianate home on 15th Street in the neighborhood of Logan Circle, the artist was 16. Thomas lived in the home most of her life, until her death in 1978 at age 86.
Built in about 1875, the residence is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. J. Maurice Thomas, the artist’s sister, who was a librarian at Howard, filed the necessary registration form with the National Park Service in 1987. On the document, she emphasized the cultural and historic significance of the home’s location.
J. Maurice wrote: “Besides providing an influential living and working environment to Alma Thomas, the house at 1530 15th Street, N.W. is a tangible reminder that, in the late nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, 15th Street was part of an important black middle-class neighborhood, populated by professionals, scholars, educators, ministers and artists.”
Thomas set up her studio in the kitchen of the home, where she made her paintings. The natural elements surrounding the property sparked her creativity and proved to be a profound influence on her work. Her signature, mosaic dabs of paint mirrored the tree leaves that rustled in the breeze outside on the crepe myrtle tree in the backyard garden and a special holly tree in the front year that pushed against the panes of the bay window in the living room.
“Why, the tree! The holly tree! I looked at the tree in the window, and that became my inspiration,” Thomas told a Washington Post reporter who visited the artist’s home two years before she died. “There are six patterns in there right now that I can see. And every morning since then, the wind has given me new colors through the windowpanes.”
ALMA THOMAS, Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50 in. (101.5 x 127.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.9
Local Luminary
THOMAS IS A BELOVED local luminary who achieved many firsts in her lifetime. In her adopted hometown, Thomas began making her mark in the 1920s and 30s as a Howard student, art teacher in public school system, and active member of her church and community. In 1960, she retired from teaching at age 68. Having maintained her artistic practice throughout her career, she was finally able to dedicate herself full time to painting. Post-retirement she flourished.
Thomas gained acclaim in the 1960s and 70s. In 1966, a solo exhibition at Howard, her alma mater, was the first presentation of her mature style of abstract painting. In 1972, Thomas became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. She was 80 years old. Following her nationally recognized show at the Whitney Museum, a retrospective of Thomas opened later that year at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. To mark the occasion and acknowledge her growing profile, then-DC Mayor Walter Washington declared Sept. 9, 1972, to be “Alma W. Thomas Day.”
Posthumously, she has continued to break new ground. In 2015, a painting by Thomas titled “Resurrection” (1966) was the first artwork by an African American woman to hang in the public spaces of the White House and enter the permanent collection.
Nearly 50 years after Mayor Washington honored Thomas, the city recognized Thomas again. Mayor Muriel Bowser proclaimed Sept. 22, 2021, “A Day of Remembrance for Alma W. Thomas.” The tribute occurred on what would have been Thomas’s 130th birthday and kicked off a citywide celebration of the artist that fall with the National Gallery of Art, and other museums and institutions hosting virtual and in-person programming with the likes of former First Lady Michelle Obama and Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem. The celebration anticipated the opening of the landmark traveling exhibition “Alma Thomas: Everything is Beautiful” at The Phillips Collection (Oct. 30, 2021-Jan. 23, 2022).
Last year, the DC Public Library recognized Thomas with an exhibition its main branch, the newly renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. “Let This World Be Beautiful: Celebrating the Life and Art of Alma Thomas” explored her artistic journey and educational impact and featured nine watercolor studies by Thomas, donated to the library by Talley and her husband Dit Talley. The library exhibition also showcased the artistic talents of DC public school artist-educators and was accompanied by a variety of public programs.
Columbus Connection
THESE RECENT LOCAL EVENTS honoring Thomas were Henderson’s first introduction to the artist. Raised in a military family, the councilmember moved frequently growing up. In fact, Henderson attended high school in Columbus, Ga., where Thomas was born, but never learned about her at the time. (That was two decades ago. Thomas is now recognized as an important part of the city’s legacy, particularly at the Columbus Museum.) Henderson only became aware of the historically significant artist after she was an elected official in Washington and the Columbus connection resonated.
Early last year, the councilmember said, her staff suggested Thomas was a prime candidate for one of the city’s symbolic street signs designed for “recreational and cultural interest area guidance.” She was surprised Thomas had yet to be acknowledged in this way and got the ball rolling on the latest local recognition of Thomas.
“If you look at street signs across D.C., sure we have them about institutions and strong ideals—Independence and Constitution (avenues)—obviously we have all the states. But when you get down to people most of the streets in D.C. are named after men, and most of them are named after white men,” Henderson told Culture Type.
“I was like, ‘Wow, nobody did that a couple of years ago when we did all these celebrations of her life?’ So I am glad we could play a role.… [Alma Thomas] is, I think, the quintessential example of never giving up on your dreams and it’s never too late for success.”
The work of artist Alma Thomas “always brings so much joy and light, so we are glad we could do this.” — DC Councilmember Christina Henderson
Symbolic Alma Thomas Way street signs were installed on the east side of 15th Street at the corners 15th and Church streets and 15th and Q streets, a short block on which the longtime home of artist Alma Thomas sits at 1530 15th Street, NW. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
The tribute was initiated by Henderson on May 24, 2024. Bill 25-828, the “Alma Thomas Way Designation Act of 2024” was discussed in a public hearing on July 17 and put to vote on Sept. 17. The bill was unanimously approved by the 11 DC Council members present. (Councilmember Vincent Gray was absent and did not vote.) Mayor Bowser signed the bill into law on Oct. 24. It was transmitted to the U.S. Congress (Nov. 1), took effect on Dec. 17, and was published in the DC Register on Jan. 17, 2025.
ANC Commissioner Neil Rocklin (2F), DC council staff, and Suzanne and Jeremy Jacobs, the current homeowners, were among those gathered for the symbolic street renaming.
After the sign was unveiled, Henderson asked everyone to wait before dispersing. The councilmember said she had a special surprise and dashed over to the District Department of Transportation truck where city workers who had installed the signs were standing by. Henderson pulled an extra sign from the truck and presented it to the artist’s nephew. He was thrilled.
“I think this is a wonderful recognition for her and I am truly thankful for this. It’s a great honor for her,” Lewis had said earlier. “Other than having Alma Thomas Day when she had her opening at the Corcoran Art Gallery [sic], I think this is the biggest honor bestowed upon her. I thank you.” CT
FIND MORE background and information about the “Alma Thomas Way Designation Act of 2024”
FIND MORE about the Alma Thomas House and the times in which the artist and her family lived in the home on Culture Type
FIND MORE about recent sales of the Alma Thomas House, which was listed in 2020 and 2022, and is currently on the market for $2.2 million
DC Councilmembers Christina Henderson and Brooke Pinto hosted the May 21, 2025, Alma Thomas symbolic street renaming event in front of the artist’s longtime home at 1530 15th Street, NW. Shown, from left, Current homeowner Suzanne Jacobs, her son, Pinto, Henderson, Susan Talley, and Charles Thomas Lewis. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
From left, DC Councilmember Christina Henderson with Susan Talley. Henderson went to high school in Columbus, Ga., where Alma Thomas was born. She is holding the program her office distributed at the event. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
From left, DC Councilmember Christina Henderson with Susan Talley, who founded the Friends of Alma Thomas group, and Charles Thomas Lewis, the grand nephew of Alma Thomas. Henderson attended high school in Alma Thomas’s hometown of Columbus, Ga., but only learned of the artist a few years ago when she was celebrated in Washington. The connection resonated and that, along with Thomas’s historic narrative, motivated Henderson to work on the symbolic street renaming. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
From left, Susan Talley, who established the Friends of Alma Thomas, and Charles Thomas Lewis, grand nephew of Alma Thomas, before the event got underway. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
From left, DC Councilmember Christina Henderson looks back at the new Alma Thomas Way street sign (out of view), just after it was unveiled, with Charles Thomas Lewis, the artist’s grand nephew, and DC Councilmember Brooke Pinto. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
From left, DC Councilmember Christina Henderson, Charles Thomas Lewis, DC Councilmember Brooke Pinto, and Susan Talley, shown with the commemorative street sign Henderson presented to Lewis. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine
BOOKSHELF
“Alma Thomas: Everything is Beautiful” documents a traveling exhibition that explored the full spectrum of Alma Thomas’s creativity, from her paintings and marionettes to fashion and gardening. “Alma Thomas” was published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Tang Teaching Museum and Studio Museum in Harlem in 2016. “Alma Thomas Resurrection” accompanied a 2019 exhibition at Mnuchin Gallery in New York City. Earlier publications include “Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective of the Paintings,” which coincided with the traveling exhibition organized by the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (1998-2000) and “A Life in Art: Alma W. Thomas, 1891-1978,” was published on the occasion of a Smithsonian exhibition (1981–1982). Also consider, the children’s book “Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas.”
