Join the Library and the Bertelsmann Foundation for the world premiere of a documentary about the Barry Farm neighborhood.
As part of the Library's ongoing Democracy Docs series with the Bertelsmann Foundation, join us for the world premiere of their newest documentary focusing on DC's own Barry Farm neighborhood. Following a screening of the film, directors Sabhiya Price and Sam George for a panel discussion of the film and this iconic neighborhood. Images from the Library's People's Archive are featured in the film.
About the film:
Take a left off of the Anacostia Freeway on to Firth Sterling Ave – what do you see? You see empty fields. You see shiny new buildings just breaking ground. Construction equipment. Sweeping views of the capital. As one community member states in this film, if you are a developer, you see a gold mine.
But these empty fields hold powerful memories. Enslaved people once worked this land. Later, during Reconstruction, the formerly enslaved purchased it, and built one of DC’s first thriving Black communities.
Here, the city constructed a sprawling public housing complex in the 1940s, beloved by insiders, if notorious to outsiders. Here, the movement for Welfare Rights took shape. Here, the Junkyard Band honed its chops on homemade instruments before putting a turbocharge into the city’s Go-Go music. Here, residents lived in the Barry Farms Dwellings up until 2018, when the final community members were removed for the redevelopment.
This documentary film, a collaboration between The Bertelsmann Foundation and the DC Legacy Project, tells this story; of a journey for community, land, and for justice. It is a story of Barry Farm, but it is also a story of Washington, DC. And, in the cycles of place and displacement, it is a story of the United States of America.
Stay tuned following the film for a community conversation featuring:
Sabiyha Prince, Film Co-Director
Samuel George, Film Co-Director
Joseph Eaglin, Barry Farm Resident, 1944 - 1951
Stephen Gilbert, Descendant of Emily Edmonson
Arlene Horn-Dines, Barry Farms Resident, 1956 – 1974, Etta Horn’s Daughter,
Amber N. Wiley, Historian, Rutgers University
AGE GROUP: | Seniors | Adults | 13 - 19 Years Old (Teens) |
EVENT TYPE: | Summer Challenge | Juneteenth | Film |