Since its founding in 1800, Washington, D.C. has been defined by ongoing conflicts over race, money, land and power. Gentrification, for example, is a hot topic in D.C. in 2013 – but it’s been a hot topic, on and off, since at least the 1930s. In order to understand how and why the city is changing today, we need to understand the history of how it’s changed over time. This class is an invitation to understanding your city’s past in order to make sense of its present – and participate in its future. Through reading, writing, discussion, and neighborhood-based research, you’ll develop a deep understanding of D.C.’s history, and deepen your own sense of place in this city. And in writing for a public audience, you will help contemporary Washingtonians – many of whom have moved here recently – gain an appreciation of the city’s history as well.

At right: UDC students examining historic D.C. maps at the Gelman Library Special Collections.

In this course, students learn to understand Washington, D.C. through making maps. By the end of this course, you'll have a solid understanding of the ArcGIS mapping software and know how to map all kinds of data. And you'll also understand your city in new ways. 

In the fall of 2013, students created a series of maps for the Deanwood Vacant Property Task Force, documenting vacant properties and associated data in the Deanwood neighborhood of D.C. Here, students pose with the Deanwood Citizens Association president David Smith and UDC law school professor Bradford Voegeli, after presenting their findings at the Deanwood Recreation Center on December 9, 2013. 

This special course, offered in spring 2021, was part of a project in partnership with Historic Chevy Chase D.C., and funded by HumanitiesDC. Students studied the history of how the city has used eminent domain to seize land owned by Black people. And they conducted oral histories with descendants of Black families whose land was taken by the city — in order to put together recommendations for how this history should be reckoned with today.

Pictured: my students with Pointer family descendants at the newly renamed Lafayette-Pointer Park, which was built on land confiscated from descendants of the Pointer family by the city in 1928.

In this course, we study the politics of housing in the urban context. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we investigate the economic, psychological, cultural, and historical factors that have shaped the urban housing experience, and explore the ways that government policy and social movements have worked to address an ongoing housing crisis in many cities. In fall 2020, we conducted oral histories of tenants in D.C. who have been taking leadership in organizing in their buildings during the pandemic economic crisis.

At right: D.C. tenants protesting for rent cancellation, October 2020.

In this class, we study the political structures of Washington, DC. Students engage in hands-on activities like visiting Councilmembers in their offices, testifying at the DC Council, and designing a campaign for Advisory Neighborhood Commission (DC’s locally elected governing bodies).