How We Got Here

 

In the fall of 2020, parishioners from St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in upper Northwest DC visited the Undesign the Redline exhibit on display in Columbia, MD. They were deeply affected by the exhibit, astonished that just 5 panels of history, maps, and images could capture devastating local and national stories of housing discrimination by design. The parishioners vowed to do more to tell others about this history. A group formed to research what it would take to bring the exhibit to upper Northwest DC. 

 

In 2023, St. Columba’s invited other Ward 3 houses of worship to help plan and launch the exhibit as a catalyst for education, conversation, and action to undo the injustices of racial segregation in our neighborhood and beyond.

 

This is the first time that this entirely secular exhibit has been initiated by faith communities. 

 

A team from the faith communities formed the Community Advisory Group (CAG) to oversee the local curation and programming of the exhibit. CAG members include people with ties to communities barred or displaced from Ward 3 and to groups and institutions wrestling with the lasting impacts of these actions. The CAG will help identify how to build on the exhibit as a catalyst for action and seek a long-term home for all research collected after the exhibit closes. 

 

See the complete list of collaborators.

 

Want to join the effort? Contact us.