Truxton Is In Shaw – Page 33

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Bessie Broadus- 1607 NJ Ave NW- cul de sac

I should be pretty much done with the Broadus family. But Bessie Broadus was listed as the head of household in 1950, so let me tie up this loose end.

I already went over most of the Broadus family history with the ownership of 1607 NJ Ave NW being in the Broadus family for about 100 years. Just a reminder, Wallace Broadus’ ownership can be traced back to 1919. He may have owned it before then. Then Arvid and his siblings owned the property.

Bessie Broadus was Wallace’s sister. As far as I can tell her name did not appear on the property. But she was a member of the family that owned 1607 New Jersey Ave NW, so close enough.

Bessie Broadus was born around 1899 to Berry and Louise Broadus. She worked at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. And she never married.

Memory Lane: Morgan St NW Stairs, ca 2003

I was looking through my old Flickr account because I am going to either shut it down or something where I am not paying a large annual fee to keep it.

So flipping through some old photos, I found this photo from 2003-ish.

Memory Lane: 1623 New Jersey Ave, 2003

I was looking through my old Flickr account because I am going to either shut it down or something where I am not paying a large annual fee to keep it.

So flipping through some old photos, I found this old gem from 2003, maybe. I don’t trust the date.

As you can see a pop up is popping up in this picture. The 2004 photo hides the pop up.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Arvid Broadus- 1607 New Jersey Ave NW

We’ve seen the Broadus family on this blog before. The earliest was in 2010 after Arvid Broadus had died and the rear of the house, 1607 New Jersey Avenue NW, appeared to be on its way to falling down into the alley. There’s also a Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle for Wallace J. Broadas post from 2021. It appears I didn’t focus on the DC Recorder of Deeds. They borrowed so much I could not cover it here in a decent narrative fashion. So I will just put it in a table below.

Wallace J. and wife, Madge V. Broadas appear in the earliest online land records in 1922. Records hint that they owned the property as far back as 1919 and the family appear in the 1920 census. Madge died in 1922. Then Wallace was married to Alberta, then after 1928 she no longer appeared on property documents. Wife Hattie B. shows up once in 1951 and is never mentioned again.

In 1966 Arvid, son of Wallace, and his siblings became the owners of 1607 New Jersey Avenue. Then the ownership gets whittled down to Arvid and sister Evelyn Broadus Shears in the 1980s. There are a slew of wrongful housing documents, where DCRA is the other party, spanning from 2010 to 2014. The house was sold to Cameron St LLC in 2013 for $185,000. I noticed the house was in poor condition, threatening to fall into the alley and exposed, in April 2010. All those wrongful housing documents started up in June 2010.

The table of the whole drama of real estate documents will be under the fold. It took 2-3 weeks to research this, looking at every stinking document, and I just want to be done with this house.

Anwho. Arvid or Arvide Wallace Broadus was born in 1919. He served in World War II as a private. In 1943 he married Mary Louise Jackson and in 1950, in Florida, they divorced. In 1944, they had a son, who grew up to be the Rev. Tyrone Livingston Broadus. Tyrone was born in Washington, DC so they may have lived at 1607 NJ Ave NW. Tyrone seems to have floated between DC and Florida. In 1967 Tyrone Broadus was one of the 13 honor guards chosen to escort the Kennedy family and President Lyndon B. Johnson to the consecration of the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame grave site. In the 1950s Arvid was a Pentagon security messenger. Arvid died in 2009.

Continue reading Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Arvid Broadus- 1607 New Jersey Ave NW

Memory Lane: Shaw Library 2006- the ugly one

I was looking through my old Flickr account because I am going to either shut it down or something where I am not paying a large annual fee to keep it.

So flipping through some old photos, I found this old gem from August 2006. Above is the Waltha T. Daniels Shaw Library in 2006. There is a much prettier library in that spot now.

Back to School, for what?

If you look at data for Black children’s literacy rates in America, it is just so depressing. The shut down of schools during Covid didn’t help. There is lots of blame to go around. Parents, community, culture, education fads, and the kids themselves play a part.

So take your anti-depression meds and lets look at Shaw education as school gets back in session.

Back in the Winter of 2019-2020 I looked at all the Shaw schools I could get data on. To be fair, I’ll stick to the 2018-2019 PARCC data, because in 2020 everything went to Hell in a hand basket. Even if there is 2019-2020 data, it would be worse.

Black students	PARCC Test	Meets/Exceeds	Below Adv & Failing
Dunbar	ELA 2018-19	16.50%	83.50%
Dunbar	Math 2018-19	0.50%	99.50%
Dunbar	Males ELA	13.40%	86.60%
Dunbar	Males Math	0.90%	99.10%
Cleveland E	ELA 2018-19	20.30%	79.70%
Cleveland E	Math 2018-19	20.30%	79.70%
Cleveland E	Males ELA	10.80%	89.20%
Cleveland E	Males Math	24.30%	75.70%
St. Augustine**	ELA 2017-2018	49%	51%
St. Augustine**	Math 2017-2018	51%	49%
Friendship PCS- Armstrong Elementary	ELA 2018-19	9.20%	90.80%
Friendship PCS- Armstrong Elementary	Math 2018-19	22.90%	77.10%
Friendship PCS- Armstrong Elementary	Males ELA	7.30%	92.70%
Friendship PCS- Armstrong Elementary	Males Math	18.20%	81.80%
Center City PCS – Shaw	ELA 2018-19	26.50%	73.50%
Center City PCS – Shaw	Math 2018-19	28.90%	71.10%
Center City PCS – Shaw	Males ELA	13.60%	86.40%
Center City PCS – Shaw	Males Math	31.80%	68.20%
KIPP- LEAD (1-4)	ELA 2018-19	39.70%	60.30%
KIPP- LEAD (1-4)	Math 2018-19	68.60%	31.40%
KIPP- LEAD (1-4)	Males ELA	30.00%	70.00%
KIPP- LEAD (1-4)	Males Math	62.20%	37.80%
KIPP- WILL (5-8)	ELA 2018-19	36.40%	63.60%
KIPP- WILL (5-8)	Math 2018-19	32.10%	67.90%
KIPP- WILL (5-8)	Males ELA	29.30%	70.70%
KIPP- WILL (5-8)	Males Math	28.70%	71.30%
Garrison ES	ELA 2018-19	37.50%	62.50%
Garrison ES	Math 2018-19	27.50%	72.50%
Garrison ES	Males ELA	45.50%	54.50%
Garrison ES	Males Math	36.40%	63.60%
Meridian	ELA 2018-19	16.80%	83.20%
Meridian	Math 2018-19	14.20%	85.80%
Meridian	Males ELA	14.70%	85.30%
Meridian	Males Math	14.70%	85.30%
Mundo Verde	ELA 2018-19	22.00%	78.00%
Mundo Verde	Math 2018-19	22.00%	78.00%
Mundo Verde	Males ELA	20.00%	80.00%
Mundo Verde	Males Math	25.00%	75.00%
Seaton ES	ELA 2018-19	35.00%	65.00%
Seaton ES	Math 2018-19	37.50%	62.50%
Seaton ES	Males ELA	31.60%	68.40%
Seaton ES	Males Math	26.30%	73.70%

**St. Augustine is a predominately African American school and does not break down data by race.

I am left asking myself what percentage of Black students who are below reading level or does not meet expectations in math acceptable? It sure as heck isn’t 99% or 80% as it is at Dunbar.

When Historic Districts Attack- The 4th Amendment

This is a reposting of an old post from 2007. For some odd reason I was thinking about when historic districting goes south and remembered this case.

Long story short, artist Laura Elkins and John Robbins were getting on the Historic Preservation Office’s (HPO) and DCRA’s bad side and it resulted in a search warrant of their home, where they were living. The incident got some press. It attracted my attention. And it worked its way through the courts. Leagle has a pretty good summary of the case.

File under WTF?

Thanks Ray for pointing out an article in the Washington Times [dead link] (as I hardly ever read that paper) of a couple who won a lawsuit against the DC government for a raid on their home, unlawful seizure of papers from said home, regarding perceived Historic Preservation violations.
A little Google search regarding the saga reveals differing opinions on if the couple actually did the HPRB dance correctly, which is not the matter that makes me fearful, it was the police raid of their home that concerns my little libertarian heart. The portion of the 4th amendment the violation in this is “no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
According to the lawsuit [pdf] a March 26, 2003 warrant was issued to search the home of Ms. Elkins and Mr. Robbins, but the warrant didn’t say anything about seizing papers or the like. The next day DC’s finest and DCRA “officials went throughout the home (including the
bedrooms of sick children home from school), opening drawers, observing, and taking photos.”
Seriously, this is just supposed to be about exterior crap, not worthy of a f*ing raid. One of the few things I agree with the pro-Historic District people on is that HDs are about the outside aesthetics of house, and what can be observed from the street, etc, etc. However, this, is something else. Investigate the case for yourself, decide if DC went too far a violated a family’s privacy and order.
On the bright side, Ms. Elkins, an artist, has turned her experience into art.

no Twitter with current id

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Daisie Mae McLean- 1636 4th St NW

photo of property

In 1945 William M. McLean, an African American carpenter and his wife, a domestic purchased 1636 4th St NW. When the 1950 census rolled around the McLeans had separated. The census showed Daisy Rose McLean (Daisie Mae in the census) as the head of the household living with her daughter Lenora (also separated), Daisy’s grandchildren, her son James and daughter in law Evelyn.

In 1940 the McLean family lived at 219 D St SW. William, the carpenter, was the head of the family. He lived with wife Daisy, daughter Lenara/Lenora and their son James.

When the McLeans bought 1636 4th St NW they bought it from Teck Construction which sold a few homes on the 1600 block of 4th St around the mid 1940s. As part of the sale, they took out two loans, both from trustees Michael P. Cook and Ralph D. Quinter totaling $3750 at 6%. The smaller loan of $950 was cleared in 1949. The larger debt is harder to figure out.

In 1955 there were a couple of deeds. It appears the goal was to remove William’s name from the title and just have Daisy’s name. But after her death, around or before June 1970 it appears he didn’t lose interest and it is hard to tell if William and Daisy divorced. William is listed as a widower in the paperwork.

From 1970 to 1985 had several deeds and an Appointment Substitute Trustee. With the substitute trustee document it appears the 1945 $2800 loan was addressed, but I can’t tell. During this William the husband, James McLean Sr and Jr and Johnny McLean sign over their interest in the property to Leonora C. Wiggins (nee McLean). There was a will, and Leonora was the executor, and I was under the impression the 1955 deeds made Daisy the sole owner. Anywho, Leonora sold the property in 1985.

Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Clementine Branham- 1604 4th St NW

Okay. Another Basiliko house. 1604 4th St NW was previously owned by Nick and Helen Basiliko, relatives of George Basiliko, slum lord.

In 1944 Dewey Branham bought 1604 4th Street from the Basilikos. He borrowed $1963.25 from trustees Herman Miller and Vernon J Thomas at 6% interest as part of the deal. In 1947 he transferred the property to his wife, Clementine. In 1954, she borrowed $2,000 from the Perpetual Building Association. Later that year, she paid off the debt Dewey had taken on in 1944. She cleared her Perpetual debt in 1965. Then in 1970, she transferred the property from herself and her husband to herself and a person named Leonard White. Sometime between 1970 and 1981 White died and as the surviving joint tenant, Clementine sold the property to Antoinette L. and James H. Ford and Evelyn Lewis.

Once again this is another 1950’s home owner and information about the home owner is spotty.

Perpetual Building Association Ads

Just for fun I looked up the Perpetual Building Association on Youtube. Perpetual was a lender for several Truxton Circle African American home owners.

Here are three radio jingles from the early 1970s.

Television ad?