Park View, D.C.

(Map from the 1950s showing changing demographics in Washington.)

How did restrictive housing covenants shape DC neighborhoods? Prologue DC historians Mara Cherkasky and Sarah Shoenfeld will present the latest findings in their ongoing research project, Mapping Segregation in Washington DC, on Wednesday, June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Park View Recreation Center, 693 Otis Place NW, and Wednesday, June 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Public Library, 901 G Street NW. Both events are free and open to the public.

Mapping Segregation in Washington DC looks in depth at the historic segregation of DC’s housing, schools, recreation facilities, and more. The project’s first year has focused on racially restrictive housing covenants and legal challenges to them.

Maps are used to better understand how many of DC’s “historically black” neighborhoods were once exclusively white, and how the city’s racial geography has been shaped by segregation. Maps tell stories that words cannot.

Prologue DC’s research is comprehensive and unprecedented. Mara Cherkasky and Sarah Shoenfeld have been hand-searching real estate records at the DC Archives and reviewing digitized documents at the Recorder of Deeds. In addition, they’ve been incorporating information found in the Washingtoniana Room at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, including real estate maps, city directories, newspapers, and the DC building-permit database. Census records and materials from the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. help fill out the picture.

This project is a collaboration between Prologue DC and GIS mapping expert Brian Kraft of JMT Technology Group. It is funded in part by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC.

Mapping Segregation is an ongoing project, so please check their Website for updates. http://prologuedc.com/blog/mapping-segregation/

Or send an email to info(at)prologueDC.com with “Mapping Segregation updates” in the subject line.