Black Families Once Owned Part of Lafayette Park

Grassroots Campaign Honors Ousted Landowners

Chevy Chase DC has a rich and interesting history as one of the first streetcar suburbs in America. But the stain of racial discrimination is also part of our development. Historic Chevy Chase DC is spearheading an effort to acknowledge and honor  the heritage of a small community of African Americans who once lived along Broad Branch Road and were displaced in 1928 to build what is now Lafayette Park and School.

When HCCDC first launched the project in 2018, it was with the goal of creating historic signage at the park to acknowledge this past and ensure it would not be forgotten -- and happily, two signs are to be unveiled in June 2021. Then, in Spring 2019, we launched a petition drive and collected more than 550 signatures to rename the park and its recreation center to honor that history, an effort passed by the City Council in late 2020.  Several offshoot campaigns are now sprouting from this initial vine of truth and reconciliation, including a partnership with the University of the District of Columbia to engage college students in the creation of eight oral histories of descendants of these families. High school students will become part of this UDC program in June 2021 when they will team up with UDC to look at how communities like Chevy Chase DC reckon with past racial actions. In addition, in 2020, HCCDC added to its board of directors two descendants of those families to rightly include those voices in our organization's decisions.

This package of information is designed to bring to you all the elements of our campaign.

But first, let us share the backstory. This type of racial displacement in Washington DC in the early 20th century unfortunately is not uncommon, but the Chevy Chase version contains unique and important aspects. Until 1928, a group of African American families had lived and tilled the soil for nearly 80 years along Broad Branch Road where Lafayette Park now stands. They were among the first freed Blacks to become landowners in upper Northwest DC.

Many of the families were descendants of George Pointer, born enslaved in 1773 and through hard work, thrift, and luck was able to purchase his own freedom at age 19. He was employed for more than 40 years as a supervising engineer by George Washington’s Patowmack Company -- later the C&O Canal. We know this because of a 12-page letter he wrote about his life that is held in the National Archives today. His granddaughter was the first member of her family to settle along Broad Branch Road in the 1840s, and other African American families followed. 

While this area was still considered countryside in the late 1800s, by 1907 it began to fill with streets and houses, part of an ambitious plan by the Chevy Chase Land Company to create a streetcar suburb. By the mid-1920s, the local school for white children was overflowing, and leaders in the whites-only community orchestrated a seizure of the Pointer descendants’ land, using eminent domain, to build a school and park. The African American community, once close knit, scattered and lost touch.

Time quickly forgot that the spacious, leafy park beside Lafayette Elementary School came at such a cost. It has been considered a beloved community asset for nearly a century. But recent scholarship has revealed anew what became of these families, and HCCDC strives to give it the attention it deserves. So do kids at Lafayette Elementary School, who have launched their own letter-writing campaign.

It is our mission to promote the architecture and history of Chevy Chase DC by doing research and educating our neighbors about our community’s past. HCCDC has been committed to exploring the neighborhood’s racial history as well, including through its growing library of oral histories of long-time residents. One such interview was conducted with Tanya Hardy and James Fisher, a 7th-generation direct descendant of George Pointer. We are proud to say that both James and Tanya joined our board of directors in May 2020. While none of this erases wrongs, it prepares us for a better future.

In this collection of material are multiple components of the Pointer story. Let us know what you think!