Abstract Grandmother and retired childhood care provider, Darene “Dee” Johnson, discusses her childhood growing up in Washington D.C. on 11th Street, NE. She recalls playing games in Lincoln Park with her cousins and siblings and enjoyed the beauty of the fruit trees and gardens in her neighborhood. However, during this period in his childhood, Ms. Dee explains the tension in her family, and her mother’s untreated mental and physical illnesses. Moving to Southeast D.C., Ms. Dee immediately...

Abstract In this oral history interview, Easter Brown discusses her life and experiences moving from Marshville, North Carolina, to Washington, DC, in 1959. Recalling her upbringing in Marshville, Ms. Brown talks about her early educational experiences, her family’s work as sharecroppers, and racial segregation in her hometown. Ms. Brown talks about her decision to move to Washington, finding work in the city, meeting her husband and raising her children, and the changes she’s seen in her...

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Linda Brown discusses growing up in Washington, DC and moving to Southwest; the experience of raising her daughter, Chaya, a child with disabilities, and their relationship with the community; her role as an advocate for people with disabilities and her involvement with several organizations, such as TASH, University Legal Services, and Empower DC; public housing; and the redevelopment and historical value of the Southwest neighborhood.

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This is an individual interview of Mimi Evans in which she discusses being a Black mixologist, mother, and small business owner in the D.C. metropolitan area, and the effects of gentrification, the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 protests on her personal and professional life

Scope and Contents This oral history interview was conducted with Petrina Williams by Kristin Adair in Washington, D.C. Petrina Williams was born in 1967 in Washington, D.C. She attended Spelman College and later moved to Washington, D.C., in 1998. She talks about moving to D.C. to live with her aunt and developing a drug addiction. She talks about having two children during that time, and she was pregnant with her third child when she was convicted of a non-violent narcotics-related crime. She gave birth to...

Scope and Contents This oral history interview was conducted with Saundra Sanders by Kristin Adair in Washington, D.C. Saundra Sanders was born in 1962 in Washington, D.C. She talks about being raised at 19th and Maryland Ave NE. She gave birth to her only child, a son, just after her graduation from Dunbar Senior High School in 1980. She discusses how she became involved in drug use and criminal activity. In 1984, she was incarcerated for the first time, serving six years. She talks about how she came to...

Scope and Contents Vanella Crawford, a native of Washington, D.C., discusses her family history, living in public housing before moving to the Columbia Height neighborhood, attending Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee and then enrolling in the first class at Federal City College (now the University of the District of Columbia), her awakening the the catholic faith and political awareness, traveling to Europe and Africa as part of Experiments in International Living program, her family's concerns about...