Recently in History Category

I'm feeling lazy so I'm going re-run a post I did before:

Of course, we all recognize that if we are ultimately to improve psychological and physical conditions for minorities there must be total elimination of ghettoes and the establishment of a truly integrated society. In the meantime, however, all those working for economic and social justice are forced to address themselves to interim programs which, while not totally changing the situation, will nevertheless bring about improvement in the lives of those forced to live in ghettoes. And so, whiel [sic] many of those steps may lead to limited integration, those which do not must clearly be seen as interim steps until the objective situation makes a more fundamental approach.

and later

... Labor, Housing and the Office of Economic Opportunity, ought to work with the people of Shaw in developing, coordinating and concentrating their various programs upon social and economic problems of this area.

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at a March 13, 1967 rally for Shaw as reported by MICCO (Model Inner City Community Organization) News

Let me start with a link that the prolific Scott Roberts put on the Historic Washington Listserv about a site called History Pin. Apparently there was an article in the Post about it. I've played with it a bit, it's neat. Sorta like Shorpy but linked with maps and there is an app associated with it.

Also with a few pictures is a book. Goodness I love the Internet, for it has brought forth Google Books and within the Books of Google there is Dr. George Kober's 1907 book "The History and Development of the Housing Movement in the District of Columbia" which has photographs of DC alley dwellings, tenant's homes, houses in the TC and near downtown. When looking at some photos, I like to look for litter. Unless it's New York City in the 70s and 80s, most people seem to remember the past as being cleaner than it actually was.

The radio woke us up and so congrats to the Duke & Dutchess of Cambridge. Anyway, looking at the email I see the boundaries for the 5D Police District are set to change. It appears we are losing Catholic University and the Washington Hospital Center to 4D. Maybe I haven't been paying much attention but for 501 it looks like we're getting NOMA. We welcome your retail, hotel and metro related crimes.

Not to be too light hearted, I'm noticing an uptick in reports of armed robbery as people walk around. Then there are the shootings and stabbings in the city. Be careful. Take a cab at night or get the bus that stops closest to your house.

Now, let's get back to lightheartedness. I'd like to the Truxtonites who (according to the email, I haven't spotted a hard copy) made it to the cover of Metro Weekly. If you click on the link a picture of Karl King, somebody else and his partner pop up.

Oh and let me wander over to what I've been thinking about regarding history. Americans have itchy feet. People are mobile now and they were mobile back then. I realize this when I try to hunt down individuals from the census in Boyd's City Directory. This was made even clearer to me when chatting with a couple who've been married for about 1/2 a century. The wife only moved a few times (count on 1 hand) in her life. The husband, too many times to keep track of. His father was a Depression Era Pennsylvania coal miner and whenever he's lose his job, he'd up and move the family, that night. No 30 day notice. Just pack up everything that night, throw it in the back of the truck and head elsewhere. So I guess if my 1900-1930 people were the same some would up and move when the need hit. Besides, most residents were renters, no reason to stick around for years on end.

This is a picture in an alley in DC, but not in Shaw. I have yet to get around to wandering over to College Park to get into Record Group 302 and scan any of the photos of Shaw area alleys. I gave The Help (Mr.InShaw) that task, so it won't get done anytime soon. The photo is circa 1930 something taken of Bellevue Court which is on Square 3040 or 3042. I have no idea where that is. 

Those little shacks, not tool sheds. People would poop there. Good Lord, I love indoor plumbing.

One of the reasons why I'd like to get some Shaw alley pictures is to show a historically accurate slum. Ray "O Sunshine" M went on another one of his entertaining anti-Historic District rants regarding the work stoppage at 9th and Q, which got me thinking. When talking about buildings around here 'historic' sometimes have little to do with actual history.

Yes, indoor plumbing existed in many homes in the 30s, but not all homes. Shaw was referred to as a slum in the 1940s & 50s, based on number of homes lacking indoor plumbing. Oh and the crime, but plumbing played a part too. For several Shaw dwellings, being historically accurate would mean having it be appropriate for poor black laborers and laundresses. Nothing fancy. Possibly overcrowded due to racial covenants and rules.

Historical accuracy also means you should have a poopshack.

First the kitchen sink and maybe a bathtub. The N Street location of the Brass Knob is closing. See CCCA's blog on it . The Brass Knob was good for some things but pricy, which was why I wound up getting a lot of stuff for my renovation from Community Forklift. The advantage of Brass Knob was it had/has old architectural details and things for older homes when you're trying to go for a certain era.

Second, since I'm getting married to a person with one of those gas powered 4 wheeled polluting things called cars, I've actually started paying more attention to parking. I'm going to miss not caring. Anyway the street sweeping will be suspended October 29th, so you can leave your car parked in the same spot until spring.

Third, the Washington Post channels Jay-Z. I've got the print edition and since it is in the Style section I guess its excusable, but C-1, lower right a sub heading, "99 Problems" describing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Lastly, research ain't cheap. I'm finishing up the gathering part of the 1880-1930 census project looking at individual residents who lived in the Truxton Circle part of Shaw. I hired my cousin to do most of the work. Also in the past I hired some strangers off of Craigslist to do some data gathering as well. So add them plus an Ancestry.com subscription, I've probably paid over $1,000 just to gather data. It's raw still and I'll have to check it and look for glaring errors. The other problem is trying to stuff all of it into one big MS Access file. Hopefully I can get this thing done before the 1940 US Census is released on April 2, 2012. Why would you care? Well you don't have to but enough of y'all are curious about what the neighborhood was like 'back then' particularly with me looking at individual houses and individual residents. The 1900 data told an interesting tale of women's work, black married women were laundresses and single white daughters living at home and working as clerks or tailors or a variety of occupations. Skimming the 1910 data the neighborhood is still racially diverse and I'm starting to see Russians, I'm guessing Russian Jews.

I heard something recently along the lines that it is sad if the only thing you know about your great grandfather is his name. I am a little lucky and not so lucky. I was young when my great grandfather on my dad's side was alive. I remember him as a brown and skinny man. His name, James, I think. I remember where he lived, and that he lived with great-grandma across the street from my uncle, which was next door to grandma.
My great grandpa Kelly on the other hand, had a farm and the white man took it away. He was also a thin brown man, and his picture is on my downstairs wall. He had a couple of sons, one being my grandfather, the other my late great uncle who moved to DC. He also was an accomplished gardener and aided the family by keeping food on the table (what food could be grown in NC). I know nothing of his wife, she apparently died early as when I found him in the 1910 or 1920 census she was nowhere around.