The National Mall in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Pippin's Garden
| | National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Gardens | |
In this garden is a variety of pepper plants associated with African American painter Horace Pippin (1888 - 1946), including Buena Mulata, Pippin's Golden Honey, and the fish pepper. The colors are bold and vibrant, a nod to the artistic eye of a painter. Pippin was self-taught and renowned for his powerful sense of design and expressive use of color. A veteran of World War I, he is well known for his depictions of domestic life and the atrocities of war. He began painting after returning home, as therapy for both his wounded arm and for depression. Pippin also treated his injury with bee sting therapy. He acquired bees bartering with a Quaker friend, H. Ralph Weaver. In exchange for Weaver's bees, Pippin sometimes traded plant seeds. Weaver's grandson found some fish pepper seeds decades later at the bottom of a freezer and shared them with the public. Today, Pippin's peppers are available in many seed catalogs.
Pippin's art reminds one of Sterling Brown's poetry or Bessie Smith's music they build on the major paradigm of black art in the black world: black art as healing, soothing, yet humorously unsettling illuminations of what it means to be human in black skin in America.
Cornel West
Erected by Smithsonian
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Arts, Letters, Music • Horticulture & Forestry. A significant historical year for this entry is 1888.
Location. Marker has been permanently removed. It was located near 38° 53.436′ N, 77° 1.932′ W. Marker was in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It was in The National Mall. It was on 14th Street (U.S. 1) just north of Madison Drive Northwest, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker was at or near this postal address: 1400 Constitution Ave NW, Washington DC 20004, United States of America.
We have been informed that this marker is no longer there and will not be replaced. This page is an archival view of what was.
Regionally, this marker was in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It was also in the American Northeast, in the Upper South, in the Mid-Atlantic, in the Tidewater, and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Globally, it was in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), September 28, 2024
2. Pippin's Garden on the grounds of the National Museum of African American History & Culture
courtesy Wikimedia Commons
3. Self-Portrait II, 1944, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Credits. This page was last revised on December 4, 2025. It was originally submitted on September 28, 2024, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 451 times since then and 81 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 28, 2024, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. 3. submitted on September 28, 2024.
