Writing out Black history in Washington, D.C.: how historical narratives support a performance of progressiveness in gentrifying urban spaces

ABSTRACT

In Washington, D.C., an increasingly affluent and White population is drawn to spaces that advertise diversity and multiculturalism, despite ongoing Black cultural and physical displacement. Icall the eager production and consumption of this discursive branding a performance of progressiveness. I argue that its emphasis on esthetics and conspicuous consumption has profound political implications in urban spaces and beyond; it allows a recognition of racialized experience to dominate public discourse without requiring fundamental challenges to structural racism. Using the case of the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District, I demonstrate how performances of progressiveness occur, and I argue they require an obfuscation of historical specificity. Visitors encounter a material and affective sense of history, devoid of the historical reality of Black Washingtonians in these alleys. Newcomers are thus invited to identify with the past, giving credibility to their claims in the present, and making performances of progressiveness all the more insidious.

KEYWORDS:

• Sense of history
• performance of progressiveness
• gentrification
• Black history
• Washington, D.C

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The year 1941 is not particularly important in the history of the alleys. Historic buildings and districts are not eligible for designation on the National Register of Historic Places unless the period of historical significance occurred at least fifty years in the past. Therefore, it is common for the end date of historical significance to be exactly fifty years before the date of application for historic district designation. The application for the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District was written in 1990, likely in anticipation of a 1991 designation, which would have been exactly fifty years after 1941. This “fifty-year” rule, like the emphasis on architectural integrity, shapes official historical narratives by confining them to somewhat arbitrary periods.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant [1656997].