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Brinnie and Angie Whitehurst interview part 1, 2019-12-17

 Item
Identifier: dcpl_220_002_01.wav

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

Mapping Segregation in Washington DC: School and Neighborhood Desegregation in Ward 4 documents the transformation of Ward 4 neighborhoods and schools during the 1950s and early 1960s. Ward 4 was predominantly white in the early 1940s, but saw a shift in demographics as white families fled after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bolling v. Sharpe, in which public school segregation was deemed unconstitutional in the District of Columbia. This project primarily consists of interviews with longtime or former Ward 4 residents.

Dates

  • Creation: 2019-12-17

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

The external hard drive DIG_BACKUP is for staff use only and contains preservation copies of this collection. This external hard drive is not publically accessible. Please see the digital collection in Dig DC for access to this collection.

Biographical / Historical

Brinnie Whitehurst was born in Edmond, West Virginia in 1928 and moved to Washington, D.C. in the 1940s where she attended Armstrong High School. After attending Bluefield State College in West Virginia, she moved back to D.C. where she married and raised four children. In 1959, the family moved to 128 Peabody Street NW, next to Fort Slocum Park. Four years later their house was among 19 taken by eminent domain to build Rabaut Junior High School. The family moved to 1309 Hamilton Street NW. Brinnie’s daughter Angelyn (Angie) Whitehurst was in second grade at this time. She attended Bancroft and Whittier elementary schools, MacFarland Junior High School, and Woodrow Wilson High School.

Extent

From the Collection: 6.25 Gigabytes

From the Collection: 50 Files

Abstract

In Part 1 of this interview, Brinnie and Angie recount the various places Brinnie lived in the District before moving to Peabody Street; the experience of living in a 2-bedroom house with Fort Slocum as their backyard; their neighbors; and another relative’s loss of her home in Petworth to eminent domain. Angie also discusses her memories of the schools she attended.

Repository Details

Part of the The People's Archive, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Repository

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