On Saturday November 19th Empower DC hosted the 100 Year Anniversary Celebration of Crummell School. The celebration also covered by local media with a video by NBC 4 and an article from the Washington City Paper. The school is located in Ivy City, a historically African American neighborhood in Northeast Washington, DC. The school was established in 1911 and named after Alexander Crummell, an educator, clergymen, and advocate for African American rights. W. E. B. Du Bois devoted a chapter of The Souls of Black Folks to Alexander Crummell in which he writes, “I began to feel the fineness of his character – his calm courtesy, the sweetness of his strength, and his fair blending of the hope and truth of life. Instinctively I bowed before this man, as one bows before the prophets of the world.” Crummell School embodied the determination of Crummell to uplift African Americans through education.
The school was closed in the 70s and Ivy City was left without a vital community center. Rezoning and neglect on the part of the city government led to Ivy City becoming the dumping ground for the city’s unwanted facilities and left this residential neighborhood buried under industrial warehousing and highways. Coupled with the harsh effects of deindustrialization, high rates of unemployment and the mass incarceration of African Americans the heart has been taken out of the neighborhood. After years of struggle and little to show, it seems the community lost the hope to continue the fight against this injustice. But is Ivy City coming back for more?
Alumni, former teachers, and former and current residents came out to participate in the celebration. Crummell School holds a special place in the hearts and memories of a number of people who feel they have their roots in the historic neighborhood of Ivy City and in the education and grounding they received at Crummell.
We aired the latest version of the short documentary “Crummell School: Heart and Soul of the Community” – to be finished in the near future – in order to get feedback and try and involve the community in its production.
The Ivy City community is resurrecting their historic Civic Association (also established in 1911) after a long hiatus. Newly elected Vice President Alicia Swanson-Canty delivered a strong and passionate speech at the event. Residents are beginning to raise their voices a little louder and in unison in regards to what they want to see develop in their community as new housing projects come in. Questions linger over whether the school can be restored as a much-needed community center as part of an ongoing neighborhood revitalization project. The community has spoken, but will they get what they so badly need? This community, and African Americans in historically segregated communities all over the United States, have had to fight for education and resources. This historic struggle continues…
Our hearts are with the people of Ivy City as they attempt to rise from the ashes of long-forgotten struggles for racial equality that still burn with an ugly determination in this divided country. As thousands take to the streets and parks to denounce the brazen greed and indifference of the “1%” it is more important than ever to remember the long and bloody battle for civil rights that have taken place in our local communities for decades and that continue to this day.
