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This talk explores the relationship between historic preservation and gentrification, with a focus on Washington, D.C.’s Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District. I examine how the aesthetics and historical narratives related to these historic alleys are oriented to the city’s newcomers, a left-leaning and overwhelmingly young and white population eager to celebrate diversity and participate in what I call a “performance of progressiveness.” The result is the erasure of Black history, which I argue is made partially possible by the mandates of historic preservation. The stakes of preservation-facilitated erasure are particularly high in Washington, D.C., where interactions with the built environment have the potential to foster either recognition or obfuscation of Black history and displacement in the urban core. 

Rebecca Summer is an assistant professor of Urban Geography in the University Honors College at Portland State University. She holds a PhD and a Masters degree in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA in American Studies from Yale University. In her research, she examines how the planning, design, and use of urban spaces influences contestations over gentrification and belonging in American cities. Most of her research has taken place in her hometown of Washington, DC. Her dissertation focused on the role of alleys in D.C.’s historical and contemporary urban development.

Please note that this lecture will not be recorded.