Samuel Gompers is one of those names you vaguely remember from AP U.S. History, along with The Grange and the Know-Nothings. They fit in somehow, but you don’t exactly remember why. While he may not be on the tips of people’s tongues, he does have a rather large monument on Massachusetts Avenue NW near Mount Vernon Square. Gompers, born in London in 1850, was a major figure in the American labor movement, organizing and…

Monuments to individuals are generally built to honor their biggest achievement; indeed, that’s usually why one becomes eligible for a big stone marker to begin with. In recent months DCist has visited Sonny Bono park, the Clark Griffith monument and Kahlil Gibran memorial, all of which reference the acts/circumstances/events for which they are primarily remembered. Other times, when an individual’s accomplishments are too numerous to convey visually, their monuments tend to be more abstract –…