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Title: Maryland-District of Columbia: Anacostia quadrangle, 7 1/2-minute series
Description: Mapped by the Geological Survey 1913-1915; revised in 1941-1942. Contour interval 10 feet. Relief also shown by spot heights. At bottom of map: Anacostia, Md.-D.C. Text on verso, dated Nov. 1937: The topographic maps of the United States., Mounted on fabric; Copy 1 mounted on fabric; Copy 2 verso stamped Georgetown Branch, May 17 1946, Public Library D.C.; Copy 1 digitized

Title: Vildred L. Fitzgerald
Description: Vildred Fitzgerald, a retired elementary school teacher from DC Public Schools, shares her earliest memories growing up in Danville, Virginia. She talks about how she met her husband, a prominent dentist in Washington, D.C., and they first settled in the Penn Branch neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C., Vildred Fitzgerald grew up in the small community of Vernon Hill located just outside of Danville, Virginia. As a child she loved school and loved to read and write on the chalkboard. This would eventually inspire her to attend Winston-Salem Teachers College and become a teacher. She met her husband while she was in college. As a young couple, they lived with her parents while he completed his education to become a dentist. They relocated into the Penn Branch neighborhood in 1963 and were among the first wave of African Americans to integrate the neighborhood. Their home had a deed that did not allow the owners to sell the property to any person of color. Ironically, their new home was also a parsonage, which is any house owned by a church for clergy to reside. Her family quickly became members of Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church. The church also had a majority White membership in 1963. Vildred Fitzgerald was an elementary school teacher in DC Public Schools for 32 years. Her late husband, William, became a prominent dentist who owned and operated his own practice located at the Penn Branch Shopping Center.

Title: Susan Hormuth
Description: Susan Hormuth shares her childhood memories of life in Penn Branch and Hillcrest neighborhoods. She also describes the process of integration and what it was like for her attending DC Public Schools in southeast Washington, D.C. during the 1960s., Susan Hormuth is a freelance archival image researcher who grew up in the Penn Branch neighborhood as a child in the early and mid-1960s. She attended Randle Highlands Elementary School and experienced the racial integration of the neighborhood and DC Public Schools. Her family relocated to Rockville, Maryland in the early 1970s after her father accepted a new job. However, Susan returned to the Penn Branch neighborhood as an adult, purchasing a home with her husband, Rudy, and their young son, in the late 1980s. She has remained in the community ever since and she is also an active member of the Penn Branch Community Association. She and her family frequently volunteer to support community events.

Title: Baxter Gee and Judith A. Gee
Description: This oral history interview was conducted for 'We Are Penn Branch' oral history project. Baxter Gee and Judith A. Gee shared stories about their lives before and after moving to the Penn Branch neighborhood in 1971. They gleefully tell the story of how they met and married. Baxter Gee also share stories about his military career traveling around the world and living for several years in Japan and Hawaii, before relocation to Washington, D.C. Both Judy Gee and Baxter Gee discuss memories of their neighbors and the Penn Branch neighborhood. They explain how it has been a nice and quiet place to live over the years and how they both have enjoyed raising their daughter there., Baxter and Judy Gee have been married for 60 years and have one daughter. Judith Gee was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Baxter Gee was born in Timmonsville, South Carolina. Baxter G. met his wife in Greensboro, North Carolina while visiting the University of North Carolina A and T. Baxter G.'s military service in the United States Marine Corps enabled him and his wife to qualify and purchase their first home in Penn Branch with help from the Veterans Administration. After his discharge from the military, Baxter Gee held many positions with various federal, municipal agencies in the D.C. metro area. The most interesting story he shared was about working with the United States Marshall Service as a bounty hunter shortly after moving to 38th Street in Penn Branch.

Title: Barbara Morgan
Description: Barbara Morgan is a second-generation Washingtonian and a well-known community activist. In her interview, she shares her extraordinary family history and her early experiences growing up in Northwest quadrants of Washington, DC during the 1940s and 1950s, during segregation. Barbara moved into Penn Branch approximately one year after she married her husband in 1962. The neighborhood was then known as Ft. Dupont Park. However, she explains how the name of the neighborhood was changed out of resistance to integration, as more Black professionals began to move into the neighborhood. She describes the racial hostility that she and her family endured from her neighbors and how she has remained a civically active in the community for over 50 years., Barbara Morgan (born 1930s) is a second-generation Washingtonian and a well-known community activist. She comes from a long line of Black educators and proudly navigated her distinguished career from starting as a public school teacher to ending up serving in the Democratic National Committee. She was married in 1959 and moved into the Ft. Dupont Park/Penn Branch Community in 1962. At that time the neighborhood was a majority-white enclave. The Morgan family experienced hostility as they, and other African American professionals began to integrate the neighborhood. She has witnessed a lot of change in Washington, DC. However, her strong sense of civic duty has kept her actively engaged in the community affairs for more than 50 years

Title: Ardie Myers
Description: In this interview, Ms. Ardie Myers, a long-time D.C. resident, discusses her life and experiences moving from Memphis, Tennessee, to New York City, and later, to Washington, D.C. Ms. Myers discusses her family life and educational experiences in Memphis as well as segregation and civil rights activism during her upbringing. She also talks about moving to New York City in the late 1960s and her move to Washington, D.C., in 1971., Ardie Myers was born on August 29, 1943, in Pinola, Mississippi, 50 miles southeast of Jackson. Ms. Myers is the youngest of four children; she has two older brothers and a twin sister who passed away in 2007. Her parents, Gayther Myers and Edna Myers, both taught at a church school in Pinola. When Ms. Myers was two months old, her father got a job with the railroad postal service, leading the family to move to Memphis, Tennessee. In Memphis, her mother taught kindergarten at First Baptist Church. In her early days, Ms. Myers took piano lessons and continued this off and on later in life. She attended Lester Elementary School, Lester Junior High, and Lester High School in Memphis. She graduated from high school in 1961 and continued her education at Memphis State University (now University of Memphis). After graduating in 1965, she moved to New York City with her twin sister and older brother, who had graduated from Yale in 1965. The two sisters had teaching jobs in the city. She taught for two months before getting a job with the Social Security Administration as a benefit examiner. Later, she took a one-year course at Columbia University's School of Library Service to acquire a Master of Science degree in library service. In 1971, she got a job at Howard University as Acquisitions Librarian and moved to the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C. She worked at Howard for a year before getting a job at the Library of Congress, where she worked for the next 30 years. Ms. Myers began in the Congressional Reference Division of Congressional Research Services (CRS) and became a team leader after four years. She was then asked to transfer to the General Reading Rooms Division as an African American specialist librarian since the division had no Black librarians at the time. She also became a reporter for the Library of Congress Gazette. She was interested in journalism and was thinking about starting a newsletter covering African American conferences. While working at the Library, she went to school at George Washington University and got a master's in American Civilization (basically African American Studies). At the end of her career, she worked in the Main Reading Room and the social science reading room before retiring in 2002. Ms. Myers enjoys doing crossword puzzles, reading, taking walks, and listening to music.

Title: Councilman Brandon Todd
Description: Brandon Todd discusses growing up in Washington, D.C., his career path to Councilmember, his introduction to The Davis Center and Ms. Beatrice Davis-Williams, teaching at The Davis Center, and the magnitude of servicing your community for 50 years for any business., Brandon Todd is a Councilmember representing Ward 4 for the District of Columbia, and a former tap dance teacher for The Davis Center.

Title: DC Oral History Collaborative

Title: Bill Johnson
Description: Bill Johnson reflects on his life as an active lay member of Asbury United Methodist Church, and his years of service with the Washington, D.C. government. He moved from working in the post office to serving in Mayor Marion Barry's cabinet, rapidly climbing the ladder from a G5 to G18 level employee. He discusses the integration of the D.C. government. Johnson highlights his involvement in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and the relationship between the civil rights movement and changes in DC. Asbury United Methodist Church, where he served in several positions, including, 38 years as an usher, has been a central point of his life in the city for decades. In his interview he reflects on working for the church, his concerns about the Church's future, and ideas about how to engage millennials and people who have recently arrived in Washington, D.C., Bill Johnson is a retired public servant, who served in the Mayor's cabinet under Mayor Marion Barry. He grew up in Kentucky and attended the Hampton Institute. He then served in the military, before moving to Washington, D.C. where he build his career in public service. He has been a lay parishioner at Asbury United Methodist Church since 1977, during which time he has made various contributions to the church's development.

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