WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Visual storyteller, former Washington Informer reporter and community advocate Joseph Young took pictures of the final days at Barry Farm.
The public housing development dates back to 1867. They were homes built for freed slaves after the Civil War. Now, the city is planning to redevelop the property forcing more than 400 families out of their homes.
The residents fought displacement and urged the city to redevelop while they remained in their units, but, many received notices to vacate around the holidays. There are just a handful of families left, living next to boarded up homes, bulldozers and rubble.
“They (the pictures) are telling the story of people a black people who have lived here for 8 decades are being displaced because of the changing demographics of the city in other words gentrification,” explained Joseph Young. “They well know they won’t be coming back even though the city has promised them they will be able to and it’s really tragic especially for the seniors. I met Ms. Mary L. Davis. She moved in the 1970’s when they (DC Department of Housing) were maintaining the property and she talked about how the grass was so green and pretty and it looked like carpet. She’s 72 years old and now she has to relocate. All the elders I talked to, and its about a half dozen, were on verge of tears and really felt like it was tragic primarily because of the uncertainty of moving someplace else and not knowing the community. They know what to expect from Barry Farm even though the city has allowed it to deteriorate.”
Young talked about a moving photo where he captured a Christmas stocking hung on a wire fence surrounding construction. “The idea that someone put a Christmas stocking on the fence it says so much about the predicament of the people relocation at this time of year, it’s cold, it’s winter, the holiday season and I was so moved by it," he explained.
"Now the city has given permission to developers to destroy trees at Barry Farm and many of them are what the city calls “heritage” size trees and that’s a tree that 100 inches around and larger. Those trees are supposed to be protected under D.C. law. So not only are people being displaced, nature is being destroyed and that says something about the harmful impact gentrification has on a city.”
Click here to view the photos.