Children sit and read at tables at Benning branch library. Tables are set up in the middle of the room, surrounded by shelving. Paintings hang on the wall above the bookshelves. Adults browse the shelves in the background.
Children in the non-fiction section at Benning Branch Library. Children sit at tables reading and browse the shelves around the room. A globe sits atop a table.
View of Benning Branch Library front entrance from Benning Road NE. People enter the building and snow is visible on the ground in front of the library.
Children and teens in the non-fiction and biography sections at Benning Branch Library. A group of teens sits at a table in the right foreground and children browse the bookshelves in the background.
Mapped by the Geological Survey 1913-1915 revised in 1941-1942. Contour interval 10 feet. In lower margin: Washington east, Md.-D.C. Text on verso, dated Nov. 1937: The topographic maps of the United States., Mounted on fabric Stamped on verso: Public Library Apr 4 1946 Washington Copy 1 mounted on fabric Copies 1 and 2 stamped on verso Public Library Apr 4 1946 Washington Copy 1 digitized
Fred Craig begins by describing some of his favorite memories with his family, and of time spent working on his family’s farm. Rarely playing indoors, Fred and his friends saw local forests and parks as their playground. And he would continue to hike the forests near Parkland until he was 25 years old. By that time, he had developed a budding interest in wild plant and tree identification, which only increased under the tutelage of experts and elders in the D.C. area. An active member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Fred joined the Pathfinders program and lead camping trips throughout the DMV for both children and adults alike. Describing the beauty and sacred stillness of Shenandoah National Park, Fred remembers how some D.C. youth, many of whom had never hiked or camped outdoors, adapted quickly and came to enjoy the forest environment. For youth in the Pathfinders program, he describes the significance of seeing the Milky Way on a clear night at high elevation. Referencing passages from the Bible and other Christian texts, Fred uses the natural world as a constructive framework for the Christian faith. He describes humans having a responsibility to act as stewards of Nature, as members of the Earth community. This oral history interview was conducted under a grant from Humanities D.C. to the Ward 8 Woods Conservancy., Frederick C. Craig grew up in Washington D.C. in the Parkland neighborhood of Ward 8, across the street from Oxon Run Parkway. Having difficulty focusing during elementary school, Fred’s Father providing supplemental tutoring outside of school, which worked to vastly improve Fred’s reading cognition and speed. In 1968, Fred graduated from Balleu High School, and from Howard University in 1972. He and his wife, married in 1977, have twin children born 1978. Retiring from the D.C. government in 2008, Fred worked nearly 35 years across various arenas including D.C. Public Schools, D.C. General Hospital, and the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking. A member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Fred remained active as with the Pathfinders wilderness program for 30 years. Beginning at an early age, Fred cultivated an interest for native wildflowers, and identifying the various plants and trees he encountered. His knowledge increased under the mentorship of other wildflower enthusiasts and Pathfinders troop leaders. His passion for ecology continues to this day.
In this oral history interview, Mr. Jerome Bettis, a longtime D.C. resident, discusses his life and experiences moving from Graniteville, South Carolina, to Washington, D.C. Mr. Bettis discusses his upbringing and family life in Graniteville as well as his experiences with racism and segregation during his early life. He then talks about his move to D.C. for junior high and most of high school and his return to South Carolina to complete the twelfth grade. He also talks about his passion for tennis, some of the various places he’s lived, and his career in D.C. Government. Mr. Bettis concludes the interview by reflecting on his migration north and his fears about the contemporary political situation., Mr. Jerome Bettis was born in Graniteville, South Carolina, a textile manufacturing town, on January 7th, 1944. He grew up in a family of ten with eight children (five girls and three boys), of which he was the 4th oldest. Throughout his upbringing Mr. Bettis attended large Fourth of July celebrations at Bettis Academy (a school founded by one of his ancestors) in nearby Trenton, South Carolina. He and his family decided the house was too crowded and there was more opportunity and freedom up North, so he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1955 to live with his aunt and her husband in Northwest. He soon returned to South Carolina due to personal issues with his aunt's husband, but he later returned to the District to live with his first cousin (who he considers to be an aunt). He attended Hine Junior High School and Eastern High School in Capitol Hill, but, due to a technicality about guardianship, he returned to South Carolina once again and finished high school at Martha Schofield High School in Aiken, South Carolina. After graduation in June 1963, Mr. Bettis moved to the Bronx to live with his father’s sister, Edna Bettis Williams, who lived at 153rd and Melrose Avenue. He worked the summer in Manhattan before he was given an opportunity to study at Southern University A and M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mr. Bettis matriculated at Southern University that fall and lived with James and Ida Bettis Slaughter, his father’s sister and her husband, as well as their four sons in Baton Rouge. On top of living in South Carolina, Washington, D.C., and New York City, Mr. Bettis has also lived in Atlanta, Georgia, Maryland, and Vietnam (While serving in the US Army during the Vietnam War). Mr. Bettis worked in the Department of Social Services for about 33 years. In 2000, Mr. Bettis left the Department of Social Services and went to work for Turner Construction Company in Arlington, Virginia, for about three years before retiring. Throughout his upbringing, Mr. Bettis played football and basketball, but as he got older he developed a passion for tennis. When he felt like basketball on the public courts of the District was getting too rough, he became involved with the Deanwood Tennis Association. He paid his friend, David Best, to teach him how to play tennis. In September of 2017, Mr. Bettis started the Tennis At Fort Lincoln Park organization (TAFLP, located in Ward 5 at Fort Lincoln Park Tennis Courts), a 501c3 non-profit tennis corporation. TAFLP received IRS status and was incorporated as a business in the District of Columbia in April 2018. To this day, Mr. Bettis continues to coach tennis and advocate for justice and equal treatment in the judicial courts, business world, tennis courts, and other areas where he, himself, is adversely impacted.
In this interview, Erica Childs, known professionally as Zombie, discusses their childhood and connection to music, life in D.C., Go-Go scene and radio show. Involvement with Anthology of Booty, Girls Rock D.C., DJing and party hosting, and connections to political work. They also talk about how Go-Go is treated in D.C. and how the scene has evolved.
Six young adults sit reading at Benning Branch Library around a table piled with books. A sign on a nearby bookshelf reads, 'Young Adult.' In the left background, children and library staff interact at the circulation desk.
Children sit and read at tables or look at the photographer in the Children's room at Benning Branch Library. The circulation desk is visible in the right background.
Children line up at the Benning Branch Library circulation desk to check out books. A second line for the circulation desk is visible in the background.
Everett P. Williams Jr. discusses growing up musically gifted, starting a career in music during his studies at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and subsequent experiences that led him to his role as minister of music at Asbury United Methodist Church in D.C. Mr. Williams talks about Washington, D.C. from 1981 up to the time of the interview (2022), particularly as a center of culture, the impact of COVID on Asbury United Methodist Church and his role in the church’s response, reactions to the Black Lives Matter movement in Washington, D.C., current challenges to the Black urban church and to the United Methodist Church, and the need for inclusiveness., Everett P. Williams Jr. is minister of music for Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. Born in Yakima, Washington, he grew up the son of a Black Methodist preacher (the late Rev. Everett P. Williams Sr.) in majority white communities in Washington state and northern California. A church choir director at age 11, classically trained in piano from an early age, self-taught on the organ, his first paid position came at Mount Zion Baptist Church during his student years at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His degrees from Oberlin certified him to teach as well as to perform and he embarked upon a career as an actor, composer, teacher at the university and public-school levels, performance artist including music made with the E.P. Williams Ensemble and a solo CD recording released in 2016, as well as 60 years of service accompanying and directing choirs and musical arts programs across the country. After visiting Washington, D.C. as a college student he moved to the District in 1981, lived three years in Washington and later bought his first home in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he resided at the time of the interview.
