The Department of Education (ED) in Washington, D.C., gilded its building with banners on Saturday in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The banners will honor “visionary leaders whose contributions have shaped the future of education for generations,” including the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, ED Press Secretary Savannah Newhouse exclusively told Breitbart News.
“Their work reflects Benjamin Franklin’s timeless belief that ‘an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.’ As our country marks an historic 250th milestone, this moment invites us all to join in the pursuit of fostering educational opportunity that empowers every learner to rise, contribute, and help shape a brighter future for generations yet to come,” Newhouse said.
Besides Kirk, the banners include pictures of Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Anne Sullivan, Booker T. Washington, and Catharine Beecher. The banners are expected to be unveiled around 11 a.m. ET.
“Empowering our states to tell the stories of our heroes in American education,” one banner reads.
“Recharting the course toward a brighter future for American Education,” another says.
“Turning the page to the next 250 years of academic excellence,” a third banner says.
Department of Education building banner for America’s 250th Anniversary / Department of Education
ED chose Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025 at the age of 31, among other education leaders because he “built one of America’s most active 21st-century youth movements, starting with small groups and leveraging social media to encourage hundreds of millions,” one of the short biographies provided to Breitbart News reads.
“Dedicated to serving God, his family, and his country (in that order), Kirk established Turning Point USA to empower young people to do the same. Turning Point equips young Americans to engage one another directly, debate ideas openly, and develop the knowledge needed to participate confidently in public life,” the biography reads.
“In the months following his assassination, student-led efforts to form new chapters and host civic gatherings reflected the self-sustaining, community-based model he championed,” it continues. “Charlie Kirk’s legacy will be one of civic responsibility, open dialogue, and local engagement across the country for generations to come.”
ED chose Franklin, not only for his humble beginnings and tenacious pursuit of education, but also for founding Philadelphia first public library, his creation of civic and trade associations, his contribution to the nations founding documents, and his support of schooling enslaved and free black children through the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.
“Benjamin Franklin’s undeniable impact on our nation came in his national contribution to our framing but also the local institutions he formed with fellow citizens, proving communities shape their own educational destiny that later influence the entire nation,” the department’s biography reads.
ED praised Catharine Beecher for demonstrating “how local investment in educators could strengthen families, communities, and ultimately the nation’s educational landscape.”
Beecher, who was the sister of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” author Harriet Beecher Stowe, made significant contributions to women’s education, establishing the Hartford Female Academy and the Western Female Institute at Lane Seminary in Ohio. She also trained women to be educators and placed them in frontier towns were schooling was limited.
“Her textbooks and organizational work, including the American Women’s Educational Association, helped communities across the country build stable schools staffed by professionally trained educators,” ED said.
ED lauded Booker T. Washington’s “rise from enslavement to educational leadership” and said his story “illustrates the power of community-based institutions to expand opportunity.”
“After attending the Hampton Institute in Virginia, he helped establish the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, where students learned marketable trades alongside academic subjects,” his ED biography reads. “Tuskegee’s model showed how practical, career-oriented education could uplift individuals and strengthen local economies. The Tuskegee Institute also served as a model for other vocational schools across the country.”
“Washington understood education as both a pathway to dignity and a means of building self-sufficient communities. His powerful speeches and writings introduced this locally rooted philosophy to audiences nationwide, encouraging partnerships among families, civic leaders, and employers,” ED said. “Although he worked quietly to challenge discriminatory laws, he placed equal importance on helping individuals gain the skills needed to build stable, prosperous lives. By focusing on economic empowerment, community capacity, and practical learning, Washington wrote a blueprint for creating strong local institutions to broaden opportunity and shape national conversations about education and citizenship.”
ED included Anne Sullivan, the teacher famous for teaching Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind, to read and write. The department notes how Sullivan’s approach “was rooted entirely in Helen’s environment, abilities, and daily experiences and demonstrated how special education can flourish when teachers have the freedom to innovate.”
“As Helen advanced from local instruction to formal schooling and higher education, Sullivan remained her guide, helping her access tools like Braille and ensuring she could participate fully in academic life,” the biography reads. “With Sullivan at her side, Helen continued her education, ultimately earning a degree from Ratcliffe College. Sullivan and Keller used their experiences together to inform policy and advocacy, showing families, teachers, and policymakers that students with disabilities thrive when supported by patient, creative educators working closely beside them.”
ED is also paying homage to Martin Luther King, Jr., whom the department says “shaped the nation’s civic understanding not through a formal classroom but through sermons, speeches, and writings that taught Americans how to participate morally and responsibly in a free society.”
“In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, King challenged the country to uphold its founding ideals, invoking the Declaration of Independence as a promissory note that created a government founded on the equality of all men, and on relationships formed by character rather than skin color,” ED said.
“In the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ he explained the duties of citizenship, the rule of law, and the shared responsibility to oppose injustice — lessons that helped Americans better understand their civic role,” the biography continues. “After his political assassination in 1968, King’s legacy reminds the nation that a strong civic culture grows when communities teach their members to value freedom, engage one another peacefully, and act with integrity.”
America’s 250th birthday is on July 4, 2026.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X@thekat_hamilton.
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