Oral History Interview with Edith P. (née Green) Greene

Edith P. (née Green) Greene, an African American woman born on June 4, 1900, describes her experience growing up in Anacostia, where she attended Birney Elementary School and crossing the bridge to reach Dunbar High School. She discusses her father working as a fireman (working with the furnaces) at St. Elizabeth's before working for the government. She recalls the segregation of communities (Congress Heights, Barry Farm-Hillsdale, and Uniontown) and visiting different markets around Washington, D.C. She talks about what women's lives were like at that time, including gardening for food, keeping chickens for eggs, sewing in sewing circles, and helping raise each other's children. She recalls attending church social events at Macedonia Baptist Church and Douglass Hall, teaching Sunday School, and going to the theater at Republic, Lincoln, or Howard Theaters as well as Green Willow and Eureka parks. Greene describes the changes in the neighborhood, particularly in the Barry Farm-Hillsdale area and how the community was no longer as close as it once was and how the crime rates are increasing. Greene provides information about her family and their history, remembering the deaths of her older sister, Lillian E. Green, and her older brother, Oliver Green, and how their funerals put the family in debt. Throughout the interview, she talks about residents in the community she grew up with, including Raymond McKenzie, Mary E. Young, Della Lowery, the Dale family, the Patterson family, James Howard, and Sallie Underdue. She ends the interview speaking about the police presence in the neighborhood, the Frederick Douglass Home, Mason's Funeral Home, and the Anacostia Bank (now the Anacostia National Bank). Edith P. (née Green) Greene was interviewed by John Bradshaw in the spring of 1971. Digital audio files include white noise and static; interviewee can be heard clearly for most parts.