House Democrats are poised to approve Washington, D.C., becoming the nation's 51st state in a historic vote scheduled for Friday. Washington the 'District of Columbia' would be no longer, the bill's language says, as the new state would be referred to as 'Washington, Douglass Commonwealth' - swapping out Italian explorer Christopher Columbus for Maryland-born abolitionist  Frederick Douglass. 

'And what an appropriate name: George Washington and Frederick Douglass, joined together in support of citizenship, what an appropriate name it seems to me for the capital of America,' remarked Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House's No. 2 Democrat who represents nearby Maryland. 'To honor two of its citizens: one white, one black, both committed to the union and committed to citizenship.'