Humanities Truck Community Archive

The annual D.C. History Conference provides a dynamic, friendly, and rigorous forum for discussing and promoting original research about the history and culture of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Humanities Truck took part in the 2019 Conference on Friday, November 22nd, presenting the exhibit “Downtown Displaced: A Case Study of Gentrification in Mount Vernon Square 1840-Present.” The exhibit emerged from a four month collaboration with Street Sense artists, and it explores the social costs of neighborhood change in a long temporal context. On Saturday, November 23rd, the Truck returned for a “performance” that included Street Sense artists Reggie Black, Angie Whitehurst, and DC filmmaker Bryan Bello. The artists/vendors provided their own interpretation of the neighborhood change and the meaning of Apple moving into Mt. Vernon Square. Also on Saturday, AU Public History students shared about their experiences collaborating with DC community partners for this project at the “Collaborating for a Community History” conference panel. This exhibit contains photos from the event.