Webinar: A Walk through River Terrace: Home, Community and Activism in a Northeast DC Waterside Neighborhood

River Terrace is a small, cul de sac community of about 2000 residents located on the bank of the Anacostia River in northeast Washington DC. First appearing on Captain John Smith’s 1612 map of the Chesapeake Bay, evidence of early Nacotchtank (Anacostan) American Indian settlement indicates that this part of the Anacostia River was a hive of trade and activity for thousands of years. Once predominantly rural, modern day River Terrace was laid out in 1937 as a whites-only community featuring a school, grocery store and church, with ‘Rustic English Village’ inspired brick row houses designed by renowned architect George T. Santmyers. River Terrace was one of the first neighborhoods in DC to desegregate in 1948 when restrictive covenants in house deeds were declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, and since then has been home to many of the city’s Black luminaries, including environmental activist and author George Gurley, Tuskegee Airman Major L. Anderson II, and the first African American woman to serve on the Board of Governors of the Biological Photographic Association Luvenia C. Miller RBP. The River Terrace Community Organization, founded in 1950, is the longest running continually active community organization in the country. Join us for a virtual walk through River Terrace where we’ll introduce you to the people and places that make our community unique.

This webinar is presented by the River Terrace Community Organization’s Art, Culture and Events Committee.

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Image credits

Map: Image inset of Map of the District of Columbia, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu

Photos and certificate: Courtesy Deborah Grimstead