Anacostia – An Inspiring True Story

I came across the most interesting video at YouTube last night. I was intrigued, and today, I did some searching and discovered a wonderful, uplifting story!

The Anacostia neighborhood in Washington, D.C. was a run down slum. The primarily black residents were living in abject poverty. Children had little hope of advancement in life.

In the late 1960s, the Smithsonian Museum got the idea to take over an old abandoned building in that neighborhood, and turn it into a black museum, which they named Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. The community embraced the project, and it became so much more than *just* a museum. Besides covering black American history and culture, it became a community center with after school activities, and sponsored musical events, provided classes for arts and crafts, and more.

The photo above was taken c. 1967. The video following was the one I watched, filmed in 1970. You’ll see the run down neighborhood as it was then, and the beginnings of the museum.
 

 

I wanted to see if the museum is still extant, and what the neighborhood is like now. The story is more wonderful than I could have imagined. It’s no longer a slum that white people avoid. It’s now an Historic District, that attracts thousands of tourists every year!

Click to see a Photo Gallery, as Anacostia looks today. Such a HUGE difference, compared to the views seen in the 1970 film. I found so many photos, too many! So I only got a few.