Right now on the East Lawn of the White House, hundreds of children are rolling Easter eggs. This tradition began in 1878 and is the 136th annual event.

As I heard Obama on the news giving remarks about the days festivities, I smiled at the irony. Growing up, many families that I knew headed for the National Zoo on this day. Why you ask? Historically, African American children were excluded from the egg roll (my son and his two cousins -pictured above- would not have made the list). Their parents annually visited the zoo so that their children had a destination on Easter Monday and the tradition stuck.

I’m unsure of the volume headed to the zoo these days, but it’s an interesting bit of local history.