In 1937 the six remaining white homeowners on this block, at 1737-1747 First Street, asked the court to nullify the covenant in their deeds and in those for 80-82 S Street, around the corner. The…

John S. Melton blanketed the unit block of T Street with racial covenants when he built rowhouses here in the early 1900s, but middle-class black families filled the 100 block of T and other nearby…

Mount Bethel Baptist Church is among several congregations in Bloomingdale that moved into buildings originally constructed by white congregations. Mount Bethel bought this church in 1958, after…

In 1965, Marion Barry moved to DC to open a branch of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) here. Soon after his arrival, Barry helped launch a successful city bus boycott to protest a…

In 1943, the well-known religious leader Solomon Michaux purchased 101 U Street for his church and was sued for violating a racial covenant. However, in this case, the covenant prevented only black…

Although some builders used racial covenants west of First Street when they began developing these houses in the 1900s, numerous black households occupied the 100 block of V Street by the 1930s,…

The houses along this block were among the first to be built in Bloomingdale, and defined First Street as the neighborhood’s premier architectural corridor. Deed covenants restricted the block to…

Clara Mays bought 2213 First Street in February 1944, after the house she had been renting was sold. Mays defied a racial covenant because she couldn’t find another place for her large household.…

African Americans began moving to the 100 block of Adams Street around 1925, despite covenants on some properties. At least nine houses on the block were the subject of lawsuits brought by white…

When James and Mary Hurd bought 116 Bryant Street in 1944, neighbors sued. Neighbors also sued the Hurds’ real estate agent, Raphael Urciolo, who had subsequently sold three more houses on the block…