neighborhood news
Bolling v. Sharpe
How the Barry Farm Community Desegregated the District by Keely Sullivan
G
rowing up in Barry Farm in the 1950s, an epicenter of social change and Black activism that swept Southeast DC, Anacostia historian Dianne Dale lived side-by-side with some of the community’s most prominent changemakers. She was even among the first waves of students to integrate into white high schools. But Dale, then a teen, didn’t realize she was making history, nor that her neighbors, churchgoers and family members gave her the right to enroll. In fact, Dale didn’t know her neighborhood mobilized against segregation. She didn’t know what Brown v. Board of Education was. These were adult affairs – issues that were neither her business nor something to meddle in. It wasn’t until years later that she discovered many of the role models in her life were on the front lines in the fight for equality – a fight for her future. “I had no idea he was going over to Sousa protesting,” Dale said of her godfather, Reverend Samuel Everette Guiles of Campbell African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Guiles transformed his church into a regular meeting place for anti-segregation activists. In September 1950, Guiles marched with the Consolidated Parent Group, a Northeastbased desegregation collective, to enroll Black students in John Philip Sousa Junior High School on Ely Place SE. The initiative failed, paving the way for a suit against the school board. Now known as Bolling v. Sharpe, this 1954 Supreme Court case and complement to Brown v. Board of Education decisively ended school segregation in the District. Dale attended church with three of the case plaintiffs, too: Barry Farm resident James Jennings and his daughters, Bar-
08
E a s t o f t h e R i v er D C N e w s . c o m
bara and Adrienne. Speaking with Adrienne years later, Dale says the young plaintiff, who was of high school age, didn’t remember much of the legal battle. “Someone was always working toward our freedom when I was growing up,” Dale said. “Everybody worked for the benefit of the children. But nobody explained that to the children. They just said, ‘This is happening,’ and you do it whether you had a role or not.”
Communal History Sparks Activism
Reverend Samuel Everette Giles. Photo: Sousa Class of 1954 & Sousa Class of 1955
In Bolling’s case, Barry Farm’s fight shaped education for Black children across the District. It’s a powerful example of a united community, says Anacostia Community Museum curator Alcione Amos, and its potential for igniting change. As protestors continue to occupy Black Lives Matter Plaza and demand racial justice, Amos points to the determination and resolve of the Barry Farm community as a critical piece of DC history worth commemorating today. “Barry Farm/Hillsdale was a small African-American community amid white communities. It wasn’t even a tenth of the whole neighborhood. Perhaps that’s what made a difference,” Amos said. “People could go from door to door and people knew everybody. Reverend Guiles said, ‘Let’s get together and do something about it.’” Barry Farm’s communal history long precedes its foray into social justice. Named for and built on the historic Freedmen’s Bureau neighborhood for African Americans, Barry Farm’s design imitated European social housing styles that emphasized communal spaces for physical and mental well-being. Barry Farm’s 34-acre plot is also physically isolated by the Suit-
