African American Oral History Project

In 2019, Historic Takoma launched an initiative designed to collect and preserve the reflections  of older African Americans who had  been longtime residents of our city’s  historically Black neighborhoods – which centered around the “Hill” (Ritchie, Geneva, and Oswego Avenues) and the “Bottom” (Cherry and Colby Avenues off of Sligo Creek Parkway), along with smaller settlements such as the one at the foot of Lincoln Avenue at Maple Avenue – to elevate their voices and stories and share them with the larger community. 

Residents Susan Schreiber (Historic Takoma board member) and Denny May  reached out to local folklorist and oral historian Ali Khan and documentary filmmaker Michael Fincham and assembled a project team including community advisors Patricia Matthews, Dale Jones, Gaynell Catherine, Dianne Bradley (joined later by Joan Francis), and secured initial funding from the City of Takoma Park’s Community Grants Program.  

Over the past three years (with some time out for pandemic delays) the project has conducted and filmed oral history interviews with individuals who shared their reflections on growing up in Takoma Park from roughly the 1940s through the early 1960s, and  how parents and community leaders came together to build a vibrant and resilient community for their families in the face of racial and economic challenges.   Both the filmed interviews and written transcripts will be accessible to researchers, students, and the general public through Historic Takoma’s archives, along withl links for each of the project films. Read More

The principal focus of the project has been the production of documentary films based on these oral history interviews.  Completed recently, They Called Him “Mister Lee,” tells the story of the legendary Lee Jordan, the school custodian who had a huge influence on Takoma Park youth, both Black and white, as mentor and coach, including breaking racial barriers by organizing the first integrated sports programs in Montgomery County and founding the city’s Boys and Girls Club. Lee Jordan’s advocacy on behalf of African American residents sheds light on the challenges faced by the Black community during segregation and the decades that followed. 

The initial public screening of “They Called Him “Mister Lee” will take place Sunday, February 26, 3:30-5:00 in the auditorium of the Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Avenue in an event co-sponsored by Historic Takoma and the Takoma Park Recreation Department.   

Following the screening, Ali Kahn who conducted the oral history interviews, and Michael Fincham, who created the film, as well as   individuals  who shared their oral histories will be on hand for a discussion and questions and answers.. This event is co-sponsored by Historic Takoma and the Takoma Park Recreation Department.

After viewing “They Called Him “Mister Lee,”  Tracy Oliver-Gray, Social Studies Supervisor for Montgomery County Public Schools decided to circulate the film to educators across the county as a resource for Black History Month, saying “One of our goals in social studies is to help students to become change makers. Mr. Lee’s commitment to social action is a fantastic example of what it means to be a change maker.”

The project has also produced Doing Oral History: An Introduction, in collaboration with the media department at Montgomery Blair High School, which has been shown in secondary school classrooms across the county for over a year.  Currently under production, a third film focuses on community life, including daily activities, work, the importance of  Parker Memorial Baptist Church and the Black school funded in part by the Rosenwald Fund, both up on the Hill, and the transition to white schools beginning in 1955. 

And be sure and stop by our building at 7328 Carroll Ave. to see the exhibit in our window about the Takoma Park African American Oral History Project, featuring a 1954 photograph of the young Roland Dawes (longtime businessman, former city council member, and owner of Roland’s Unisex Barbershop up in the next block) and his wife Catherine, along with other images of people and neighborhoods. 

Historic Takoma’s African American Oral History Project has been made possible by generous support from the City’s Community Grants Program, Maryland Humanities, Preservation Maryland, and the Takoma Foundation.

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The Name “Takoma Park”

KIRO radio in Seattle, Washington recently ran a story about the relationship between place names in Maryland and Washington: Takoma Park, Maryland and Tacoma, Washington AND Mt Rainier, Maryland and Mount Rainier, Washington. You can read and listen to the story (featuring Historic Takoma’s archivist, Jim Douglas).

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Takoma Park Founders Day – November 24

On November 24, 1883, Benjamin Franklin Gilbert purchased approximately 100 acres known as lots 2 and 3 of the “Grammer Farm” straddling the Maryland-DC line and the B&O Railroad. He paid $7,500. Though just six miles from downtown Washington, this was the “wilderness,” mostly scrubby forest. There was no train station, just a three-sided shelter (then called Brightwood). Only Blair Road (then Left Fork Road) and a portion of Carroll Street/Avenue (then Sandy Spring Road) existed. [See maps below] The rest of the streets were just lines on a paper map. 

On this same date Gilbert’s “Takoma Park” subdivision was approved, turning the 100 acres into 15 “blocks” with nearly 250 lots, the beginning of Gilbert’s vision of  a “Sylvan Suburb” where families could live in a healthy, rural wilderness just a 20- minute railroad commute to Washington.Read More

Indeed, also on November 24 Gilbert sold his initial 10 lots (some in Montgomery County, Maryland, some in Washington County, DC) to Amanda Thomas for $1,270. Amanda Thomas and her husband Isaac, built one of the first houses in Takoma Park (still on the southwest corner of Tulip Avenue and Cedar Avenue) and opened the first store near the train station. Isaac became Takoma Park’s first Postmaster. By spring of 1884, paths had been cleared for the first streets and construction was underway on several houses, including one for Gilbert’s own family.

Thus was the new community of Takoma Park born.

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History of Early Schools in Takoma Park

Historic Takoma’s September Newsletter features a story about the history of early schools in Takoma Park. This is a picture of Schoolhouse No. 8, built circa 1888, which sat on the site currently occupied by the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church community hall, 310 Tulip Avenue. Read more about these schools and other news from Historic Takoma in the newsletter. If you’re not signed up to receive the newsletter directly, you can do so here.

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The Role of History Education in Community Change – Voices of Takoma Authors

Dr. Jenice L. View
Sunday, March 17 at 4:30 PM
7328 Carroll Avenue

Dr. View will talk about the ways schools and communities can use lessons from the historic civil rights movement to bring about social justice today. She also will share her experience with disseminating these ideas locally, nationally, and across the world.

Among her publications is the award-winning book Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching, with a foreword by the late Congressman John Lewis. Her book is a featured title at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

She is Associate Professor Emerita of Education at George Mason University. After careers in academia and the non-governmental sector, she is now co-owner with her two daughters of Three Points of View (3PV), a Black women-owned consulting group focused on education policy, program development, and cultural ambassadorship.

Dr. View grew up in Takoma Park, DC, where she currently resides, and is a proud product of DC public schools. 

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