BLK FLWR MRKT

- SECOND FLOOR DINING ROOM, SERVING PANTRY, DESIGNED BY HERBERT BROWNE
AND ARTHUR LITTLE, CA. 1902-1905

Photo by Tori Del Photography

Florist’s inspiration: Cotton and the Cherry Blossom Tree—the cotton plant is emblematic of American history—once one of the country's most profitable cash crops and a more honest national flower. It is also a symbol of pain and suffering for African Americans; a memory of the disgusting history of human chattel slavery. While cotton has a pre-dominantly negative connotation, its flower was a tool of reproductive freedom for Black women enslaved on cotton plantations in the antebellum south—including Washington, DC. The bark of the plant was used in an abortive tincture to take control of their reproductive rights. Today, cotton can also represent the tenacious legacy of Black Americans, and how far we've come. Cherry blossoms represent Washington. Imported as a gift of friendship from the people of Japan, the trees symbolize duality, both beauty and death, and beauty and violence. The merge of the two symbolize Chocolate City, DC.

Recipe: Tree branches and trunk, silk flowers, cotton, cherry blossoms.

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