Daniel Olney's frieze The Progress of the Negro Race tells the story of the great migration
These videos are from a history project done at the Langston Terrace Dwellings. They are on the longer side, but perfect watching for a snow day. If you want to learn more about the very interesting history of the Dwellings, I suggest this archive of the website Learning from Langston Terrace.
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2007 PhD Dissertation: MAKING MODERN HOMES: A HISTORY OF LANGSTON TERRACE DWELLINGS, A NEW DEAL HOUSING PROGRAM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/7177/umi-umd-4557.pdf;jsessionid=2634213B656D865B6974C2DCB7F0EE72?sequence=1
Last year I brought a former work colleague, with a degree in urban architecture, over to look at the Langston Project and we were profiled, and stopped by a police officer in a patrol car trailing us. Despite my (lengthy and detailed) explanation for our visit, it was clear he thought we were looking for drugs, explaining the area around the frieze was nothing but a local drug market and told us to get lost if we knew what was good for us.
Mr. Ray,
That's unfortunate. The courtyard is impressive. I took these photos after an anti-crime march in late 2006. I knew about the art and made a point to photographic it since I was already there.
As a 47-year DC resident, local architecture and history buff, I've visited the friezes a handful of times to show out-of-town guests. They are reminiscent of the Art Deco Congo reliefs on the Belgium Pavilion from the 1939 World's Fair, moved to Virginia Union University in Richmond in 1941 (http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/richmond/virginiaunion_belgianbuilding.htm). I did not appreciate the police shooing us away, assuming we were looking for drugs -- even though I clearly regaled them with a detailed architectural knowledge of the site. We had just been up to Greenbelt built for European Americans and visited their small museum and former school (http://greenbeltmuseum.org/), so it would have been a useful contrast to see the Langston Project built for African Americans.
Mr. Ray,
Interesting stuff. I'm familiar with Greenbelt's history, but not with the Belgium Pavilion. You might enjoy the other photos in my Langston Terrace set
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