It’s hard to believe it’s been just over a week since Jeff Bezos and Washington Post executives blew a gaping hole in D.C.’s news ecosystem with more than 300 layoffs in a single day, including cutting the Metro desk from 40+ reporters to 12.
Our small newsroom can’t claim to fill this gap. In many ways, The Washington Post is irreplaceable. But with your help, we’re building a sustainable, alternative local news model to bring our city the coverage it deserves. A huge thank you to the more than 1,700 people who have subscribed in the last week, including 845 who joined as paying members.
Yesterday, we launched a campaign to raise the funds needed to triple our editorial capacity. If you haven’t joined us yet, we hope you will. (And if you have — truly, thank you.) To everyone: please keep spreading the word and helping us build a truly independent, reader-funded local news source by and for D.C. residents.
If this is your first newsletter from The 51st, you’re in for a treat with this special edition. A few months ago, I reached out to fellow journalist Nayion Perkins to answer a question for our Ask a D.C. Native column:
Is D.C. still Chocolate City?
Nayion said he was actually tackling this question in an upcoming project. Fast forward a couple of months, and his company, The Pack World, dropped PROOF OF LIFE — a project that uses journalism, visual storytelling, oral history, and streetwear to both encapsulate a moment in time for Black Washingtonians while reinforcing their present-day existence and lasting impact on D.C. culture.
“Proof of Life asserts that the true Washington, D.C., the D.C. forged by generations of African Americans, is still here, alive and fighting, even as the city’s native communities are held hostage by rapid redevelopment and cultural erasure.” – The Pack World
The project includes branded hoodies and t-shirts, plus a 100-page booklet featuring interviews with local artists and community leaders, photos harkening back to ‘90s D.C., and essays on D.C. history, culture, and politics. True to their mission, The Pack World produced a project that truly spoke to me as a D.C. native, and I knew we had to do more than a column — we needed a full-on collaboration.
And thus, The 51st and The Pack World cooked up this special-edition newsletter, uplifting existing Proof of Life content and expounding on the concept with new interviews, a photo essay, and some little-known D.C. history.
This week, we're sharing D.C. Black history stories from over the years:
Black business owners in the Shaw and U Street neighborhoods detail how rapid gentrification impacted their stores, and how they navigated these drastic changes. [Washington City Paper]
Washingtonians describe some of the struggles and joys of being born and raised in D.C., across four rich essays. [Washington City Paper]
The establishment of sports arenas like Nats Park came with a cost for the surrounding Black neighborhoods and businesses in Southwest D.C. [Andscape]
Howard students grapple with attending a renowned historic Black university while facing displacement, as gentrification prices them out of the surrounding neighborhoods. [Newsone]
Got a pair of New Balances? The shoe brand shares a deep-rooted connection with D.C. natives that goes back to the early 80s. [DCist]
One of the labor movement’s hidden leaders is Rosina Corrothers Tucker, a Washingtonian who helped start the D.C. chapter of the country’s first all-Black union. [Washington Informer]
Historian George Derek Musgrove mapped how Black activists from the 1960s through the 1990s made the District into a powerful hub for the Black Power Movement. [DCist]
From the 1990s to the early 2000s, photographer Steven M. Cummings captured daily life in what was once “Chocolate City.” [DCist]
With your help, we pursue stories that hold leaders to account, demystify opaque city and civic processes, and celebrate the idiosyncrasies that make us proud to call D.C. home. Put simply, our mission is to make it easier — and more fun — to live in the District. Our members help keep local news free and independent for all:
