Park View, D.C.

Commissioner Boese speaking before a class at Howard University

On Friday, February 4th, ANC 1A Commissioner Boese (1a08) was invited to speak before Dr. Ernest Quimby’s sociology class, “Deviance and the Community.” One of Dr. Quimby’s objectives of the class is the include community participation. One way he does this is by having members of the community speak to his students about neighborhood issues, culture, and history. Another way is through his assignments which require off-campus fieldwork.

Though invited to inform the student’s about the Park View community, Boese began by describing the broader historical framework of the District to set the stage for talking about how and why Columbia Heights, Pleasant Plains, and Park View developed. He also touched upon social forces that contributed to neighborhood development such as segregation, restrictive housing covenants, government interaction, and changing demographics. He additionally shared his views on the differences between Neighborhoods, Civic groups, and Communities and how each of these words can mean different things to different people.

One of the things Boese mentioned when speaking about Park View was the lack of official records or documentation in traditional archives and library collections. He offered that much of that history is available but is in the memories and experiences of our oldest residents. He suggested that an interesting future class assignment would be for students to conduct interviews with the most established members of the community and record oral histories. He furthered that there is a rich history in the communities around Howard, but that much of it has yet to be documented.

Unfortunately, time did not allow for many student questions or in-depth conversations on gentrification and other community issues. As a solution, Dr. Quimby will hold a class discussion to identify areas where further discussion is desired and Commissioner Boese will be invited back to continue the conversation.

This entry was posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:01 am and is filed under Community Involvement. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: community, education, Howard University, Park View