Called to the Mall: National Mall — Great Place to Be

By Eshan Timberlake, who is 10 years old

Many important things have happened at the National Mall. It looks like a big field with lots of grass, and some trees. Some of the walkways are made of gravel and sand and some of the streets around it have cobblestones. In the middle is something that looks like a giant blinking pencil and the end has a rectangle with a big turnip on it. The pencil is really a monument to George Washington and the rectangle with a turnip is the Capitol dome and the halls of Congress.

Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States of America. He gave a speech at his inaugural about everyone uniting in January of 2009. My National Mall was filled with thousands of people for that important day.

National Mall illustration by Eshan Timberlake

Another event on the Mall was called the Million Man March. Yes, a million men came to the Mall in 1995, to show everyone they could take being friends and brothers seriously. October of 2015 was the twentieth anniversary of the Million Man March.

In the future I really want all people to meet there and unite so we can all be peaceful and be friends. If we could do that then the Mall would really be great! Remember that the National Mall is a very, very important place. I want the Mall to be a place with way more than a million men there. I want a March to be called the Million People March this time, because there can’t be only men. Women count, too.

• Called to the Mall: An Anthology of Stories about the National Mall was a project to teach children how to be active citizens in a democracy. It was created September 25, 2017 by Shining Stars Montessori Academy Public Charter School and sponsored by the National Mall Coalition, of Washington, D.C. The book is now available on iBooks, order your copy now.