Undesign the Redline

Undesign the Redline is an exhibit created by Designing the We that explores the history of explicit race-based exclusion, specifically in upper Northwest DC. The exhibit helps us understand why inequities in housing and wealth persist, and encourages us to ask how we can “undesign” these wrongs. Suitable for middle-school aged children and older. Undesign the Redline is on display from April 11-July 11, 2024 at the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Find the schedule of other programs and learn more at undesigndc.org.

This is the first time that this entirely secular exhibit has been initiated by faith communities. In 2023, St. Columba’s Episcopal Church invited other Ward 3 houses of worship to help plan and launch the exhibit as a catalyst for education, conversation, and action to undo the injustices of racial segregation in our neighborhood and beyond. Founding sponsors include Adas Israel Congregation, Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Temple Micah, and Temple Sinai.

Learn more in this wonderful write-up by Greater Greater Washington!

Thursday, April 25, 6:30pm-7:30pm

The Reno Community

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW

Registration is optional, but helpful. Register for this program here.

Over the past four years, students at Jackson-Reed High School have taken an active role in advocating on behalf of affordable housing in Ward 3. The Community Coalition for Change (CCC) is a social justice and community club started by Jackson-Reed students in 2019, committed to uncovering the history of Reno and promoting more affordable housing and diversity in Ward 3.

Jackson-Reed students and faculty have researched the deep and varied history of Fort Reno from the Civil War era forward–to include the story of Reno City, a Black community dismantled to make way for Alice Deal Middle School–in an effort to better understand how our community has evolved and changed. The results of their research were shared in an exhibit displayed in the windows of the old PEPCO substation on Wisconsin Ave in 2022-23.

This panel discussion with Jackson-Reed students–led by Assistant Principal and CCC faculty advisor Marc Minsker, accompanied by Franice Sewell, program analyst with the Civil War Defenses section of the National Park Service–will explore how the students’ engagement of local history is becoming a catalyst for action.

This program is presented in association with Undesign the Redline, an exhibit created by Designing the We that explores the history of explicit race-based exclusion, specifically in upper Northwest DC. The exhibit helps us understand why inequities in housing and wealth persist, and encourages us to ask how we can “undesign” these wrongs. Suitable for middle-school aged children and older. Undesign the Redline is on display from April 11-July 11, 2024 at the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Find the schedule of other programs and learn more at undesigndc.org.

Thursday, May 2, 6:15pm-7:30pm

The Untold History of Cleveland Park

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

Cleveland Park resident Bob Ward explores the data and legal frameworks of Cleveland Park’s past, looking at census data, maps of covenants in the area, and historical news coverage to discover factors that contributed to the emergence of a largely white and relatively wealthy Cleveland Park.

Bob Ward is the chairman of Cleveland Park Smart Growth, an urbanist community group which advocates for more walkable, vibrant, and equitable neighborhoods. He has been active in the neighborhood in a variety of ways, primarily focused on enhancing the Connecticut Avenue commercial area. His goal is to make Cleveland Park and the surrounding neighborhoods more walkable and multi-modal, more vibrant and more equitable. Professionally, Bob owns a market research firm that serves corporate, trade association, and non-profit clients.

Sunday, May 5, 2:00pm-5:00pm (Rain date May 19)

The Campaign Against Covenants: Walking Tour of Bloomingdale

Discover why the Bloomingdale neighborhood’s premier architectural corridor was also a racial barrier, and how Black homeseekers and civil rights attorneys chipped away at this dividing line. This tour highlights key sites in the legal campaign against racially restrictive deed covenants, which kept much of Washington, DC’s Bloomingdale neighborhood off-limits to African Americans when it was first developed around the turn of the 20th century.

Led by Historian Sarah Jane Shoenfeld, co-founder of the public history project Mapping Segregation in Washington DC. Register here.

Tuesday, May 7, 6:30pm-7:30pm

The (NOT) Forgotten River Road Black Community

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW

Registration is optional, but it is helpful. Register here.

The Moses African Cemetery is where the post-Emancipation Black River Road Community buried their beloved family members for over half a century; hundreds of people were buried, including community leaders and Civil War veterans. The Macedonia Baptist Church cared for the cemetery through this era, and is the last remaining institution of the community. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) seeks to stop the desecration of Moses Macedonia Cemetery, preserve the rich history of this once thriving African community, and consecrate Moses Macedonia Cemetery with a memorial and museum on River Road in Bethesda, Maryland.

Activists share stories of displacement, erasure of memories, and dishonoring of the dead, while working for acknowledgement and repair.

Presented by Rev. Segun Adebayo, Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church; Dr. Marsha Coleman Adebayo, President, Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC); Trustee Harvey Matthews, Sr., River Road Resident, and Mr. Robert Stubblefield, BACC Board Member

Friday, May 10, 6:00pm-7:30pm

History of Barry Farm

St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, 4201 Albemarle Street, NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

A screening of the documentary: Barry Farm: Community, Land and Justice in Washington DC.

Barry Farm was once a plantation worked by enslaved people, located in southeast DC. After the Civil War, the land was purchased by formerly enslaved individuals during Reconstruction and became a thriving Black community. In the 1940s the city built a sprawling public housing complex on the site - The Barry Farm Dwellings. Uncover the poignant story of Barry Farm, a narrative deeply woven into the fabric of DC. It mirrors the intricate cycles of placement and displacement, reflecting broader societal trends in the United States. Told by generations of residents as well as DC's leading historians, artists, musicians and analysts, this film tells the story of a community that risks being erased from the map.

The film is followed by panel discussion of the history of public housing, the experience of residents, and the false promise that public housing has created. Presented by Corey Shaw, Empower’s DC Legacy Project Director and Sabiyha Prince, one of the two directors for the film.

May 14, 6:30pm-7:30pm

2024: Neighborhood Segregation and Modern Day Redlining

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

Neighborhood segregation is no accident. Learn about the history of housing, modern-day redlining practices, and solutions to redress discriminatory patterns and create more equity in housing.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) leads the fair housing movement by working to eliminate housing discrimination and ensure equitable housing opportunities for all people and communities through its education and outreach, member services, public policy, advocacy, housing and community development, tech equity, enforcement, and consulting and compliance programs.

Laurie Benner is the Associate Vice President of Housing and Community Development at the National Fair Housing Alliance, responsible for developing, implementing, managing, and evaluating innovative national programs designed to advance research, programs, and policies that provide equitable access to homeownership, housing, economic, and other opportunities.

Presented by Laurie Benner, Associate Vice President of Housing & Community Development, National Fair Housing Alliance

Wednesday, May 15, 6:00pm-7:30pm

Speak Truth: A Student-Led Conversation about Undesign the Redline

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

Through student-facilitated conversations, Speak Truth participants learn to productively and respectfully discuss current, controversial topics. At this event, DC high school students will discuss their thoughts and reactions to the Undesign the Redline exhibit.

The Center for Inspired Teaching is a social change nonprofit organization that champions the power of curiosity and is dedicated to transforming the school experience from compliance-based to engagement-based. Speak Truth programs sponsored by the Center are student led, student driven conversations on current events that enable students to defend their stances on issues and help them develop and recognize the power of their voices.

Sponsored by Cosby Hunt and Jenna Fournel, The Center for Inspired Teaching

Jenna Fournel is Director of Teaching and Learning, and has been involved with Center for Inspired Teaching since 2004. She has worked in the education field for more than 20 years. Jenna began her career as a high school English teacher and has served as Director of Communications for both Inspired Teaching and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Cosby Hunt is the Director of Youth Programming for Inspired Teaching. He is the course creator and instructor for Real World History and also works with BLISS: Building Literacy in the Social Studies. Cosby is also a history teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School. He is a native Washingtonian who earned his Bachelor’s degree in Non-Western History at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his Master’s in Secondary Social Science Education at the University of Georgia. Cosby is one of only a handful of National Board Certified social studies teachers in the city.

Thursday, May 16, 6:00pm-7:30pm

Insist/Resist: De-Gentrifying the Black Body - An Artist Exhibit and Talk with Paula Mans

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

Join visual artist, art educator, and native Washingtonian Paula Mans as she discusses her 2023 series entitled See Me. See Me contemplates how Black people respond to dynamics of (in)visibility while navigating the dehumanizing systems of racialized surveillance, displacement and gentrification. Reflecting on her family's experience in northwest DC, Mans will share how experience is manifest in her art. Through her works, Mans critically assesses the objectification of Black people, amplifying their agency by way of the Black Gaze. Rather than being reduced to bodies that are surveilled, consumed, and discarded, Mans’ figures look defiantly out onto the world - confronting, questioning, and challenging the viewer.

Facilitator: Rachael Bohlander, a mixed-media artist, who resides and works in Washington, D.C. She has an MFA from New York Studio School and is an instructor in studio arts at the Washington Studio School, Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, May 21, 7:00pm-8:30pm

The Role of Faith Communities in Repairing the Breach

Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec St NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

This evening will focus on the context of faith (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), its intersection with social justice and the call to repair and restore. Join faith leaders in exploring the role of religion in social justice today and what it could be in the future. Panelists will consider:

What community responses or actions could emerge from the Undesign the Redline exhibit?
What is the call to repair the breach and how is it relevant to this exhibit?.
What is or might be the role of faith-based programs in reparations?
What opportunities exist for collaboration and impact across faith communities?

Panel members are Rabbi Aaron Alexander, Adas Israel; Rev. Nancy Ladd, River Road Unitarian Church; Rev. Glenna Huber Episcopal Church of the Epiphany; and Dr. Talib M. Shareef, Masjid Muhammad, The Nation's Mosque. The panel will be facilitated by Steve Metalitz, Co-Chair of Temple Sinai’s Multiracial Sinai Committee, and member of the Davis Center for Social Justice Steering Committee.

The 1909-1911 Baist Real Estate Atlas shows the triangular six-acre site on Broad Branch Road NW owned by African Americans still surrounded by farmland.

Saturday, June 1 or Saturday, June 8 10:30am-noon

Black Broad Branch Story

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW [NB: Or elsewhere if on 6/1]

This discussion will explore the stories of two Black families along Broad Branch Road NW, who were forced to leave the land and homes they owned in order to make way for the newly developing all-white neighborhood of Chevy Chase DC The Black Broad Branch Project was established to document this history, and to advance the vision for repair put forth by the descendants of these families today. The presentation will highlight themes of eminent domain, steering, relocation and resilience.

Participants will include Corey Shaw Jr., co-founder and director of the Black Broad Branch Project, together with descendants of the families who lost their homes here.

Tuesday, June 4, 6:00pm-7:30pm

Undesigning the Redline: Legal and Policy Issues Impacting Change

Temple Micah, 2829 Wisconsin Ave., NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

How do we get more houses in areas of opportunity? What policy solutions are being employed in the DC metro region to this end? What lessons can DC learn from the experience of neighboring jurisdictions? A panel of local leaders involved in change in DC/MD/VA explores these issues, led by facilitator Jenny Schuetz, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. Panelists include Bryan Coleman ,housing advocate and community leader in Northern Virginia; Luca Gattoni-Celli, founder of YIMBYs of Northern Virginia; Dan Reed, Regional Policy Director of Greater Greater Washington; Harriet Tregoning, Director of the New Urban Mobility Alliance; and Gwen Wright, former Montgomery County Director of Planning.

Thursday, June 6, 6:30pm-7:30pm

Course Correction: The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Ongoing Fair Housing Transformation from Opponent to Ardent Advocate

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

Using the phenomenal artifacts from NAR’s rich archive, this presentation is targeted to real estate professionals and charts the National Association of REALTORS® fair housing evolution.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.5 million plus members, including NAR’s institutes, societies, and councils involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Colette Massengale is a native Washingtonian and an attorney and senior policy representative for fair housing policy with the National Association of REALTORS®. Prior to joining the Legal Affairs Department at Maryland REALTORS®, Colette worked as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Rhonda Reid Winston in Washington, DC. At Maryland REALTORS®, Colette enjoys helping clients minimize risks by developing best practices that can be readily implemented, preparing contracts and other legal documents that are easy to understand, and teaching courses such as Ethics, Agency, Contracts, and Fair Housing.

Presented by Colette Massengale, National Association of Realtors

Targeted to Real Estate Professionals

Tuesday, June 25, 6:00pm-7:30pm

WIN: Envisioning Thriving Communities Today, and Looking Ahead

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

How is racial and economic displacement shaping the Ward 3 we live in today? What might it look like for Ward 3 to shift that exclusionary trajectory? This panel will explore creating a positive vision of the future for Ward 3–one that will compete with negative narratives, and highlight a potential path for creating change.

The Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) is a city-wide, multi-racial, multi-faith, nonpartisan citizens’ power organization that represents 45 faith and other institutions from all eight wards of the District, organizing our communities to give voice to the underrepresented. Affordable, healthy, and safe housing has been WIN’s signature issue since its WIN’s founding in 1996. WIN’s Ward 3 team is working to bring more housing opportunities to upper Northwest for households earning a wider range of incomes.

Panel members include Rev. William H. Lamar IV, Metropolitan AME Church; Anthony E. Cook, Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Erica Williams, Executive Director, DC Fiscal Policy Institute; and Alison Dunn-Almaguer, Executive Director, Washington Interfaith Network.

Tuesday, July 2, 6:30pm-7:30pm

Mapping Segregation in DC: Racial Covenants in Northwest and Southeast

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave., NW

Registration is not required, but it is helpful. Register here.

Learn about a project begun in 2014 to document the former extent of racially restricted housing in DC along with other historic mechanisms of segregation and racialized displacement. Covenants laid the basis for demographic patterns reinforced by exclusionary zoning, redlining, and unequal investment. They helped make residential segregation the norm. Audience members will be invited to sign up for helping map covenants in Southeast and Northwest DC, including Ward 3.

Led by Historian Sarah Jane Shoenfeld, co-founder of the public history project Mapping Segregation in Washington DC and a member of Undesign the Redline DC’s Community Advisory Group.

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