Oral History Interview with Anita B. Blake and Irene Donnelly

Anita Blake, an African American woman born in 1894, and her friend Irene Donnelly, an African American woman born in 1888, discuss growing up in Anacostia and the changes in the neighborhood after they left. Blake lived in Anacostia from birth until 1917 when she got married. She was educated at Birney Elementary School and finished high school across the river. Donnelly lived in Anacostia from birth to 1902 and attended Birney Elementary School before leaving the neighborhood to go to a Catholic school in Virginia. They discuss how most families typically had two parents and no more than six children, lived in homes they built, and gardened for vegetables and fruits. Horse and buggy were the most common type of transportation and most men worked near the Capitol. Blake and Donnelly speak about how most families attended church (and still do) with the biggest churches being Campbell AME Church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, and St Philip's Church. They explain that there was little interaction between races in the neighborhood, although certain stores catered to all races and the only local doctor was a white man living in Uniontown. Neither Blake nor Donnelly participated in community organizing, but they list several prominent members and families of the community, including James Banks, Earl Shipley, John Wilson, the Dale family, and the Hamilton family. Blake also talks about her family ancestry, including her grandmother, Emily Edmonson, an abolitionist, who was a part of the Pearl incident to free herself and seventy-seven other enslaved people. Edmonson also maintained a close friendship with Frederick Douglass in Anacostia where Blake's family settled before she was born. Anita Blake and Irene Donnelly were interviewed on January 7, 1971, by an unnamed volunteer or staff member at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (now the Anacostia Community Museum). Digital audio files include white noise and static; interviewee can be heard clearly for most parts.