On November 17, 2014, local historian Nelson Rimensnyder delivered an Overbeck history lecture that attempted to explain why citizens of Washington, DC still have no voting representation in Congress. His account ranged from the prescription for a separate federal district as set forth in the U.S. Constitution to the failure of an effort in the 1970s to enact a constitutional amendment that would have rectified the problem.
Rimensnyder is a longtime student of DC history and champion of DC home rule. He was director of research for the House Committee on the District of Columbia (1975-1992),and has been intensively involved in local historic preservation efforts. He has served on the boards of the Historical Society of Washington, DC and the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia.
