D.C. History New and Old: Intergenerational Service Learning Day at Girls’ Global Academy

Girls' Global Academy (GGA) students both went out into the community and welcomed visitors to their school as part of their Intergenerational Service-Learning Day, a comprehensive learning experience about D.C. history. The day was coordinated by Danika Robison, a DCAESJ secondary working group member and the school's Special Projects and Experiential Education Programs Manager, and Shayne Swift, GGA's co-founder and Director of Programs & Community Engagement. Robison shared about the day:

It's part of an effort for students to learn more from family and community members about their stories and insights related to D.C. culture, community, and how things have changed (or not) with time.

Swift envisioned an international service learning activity to provide a platform for connection and sharing, giving students a unique opportunity to better understand significant pieces of D.C. history and how these events and patterns in our community have impacted local leaders and residents.

For weeks, students learned about D.C., including studying the history of the Chinatown neighborhood where their school was founded. They learned how the uprisings after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, subsequent gentrification, and specific government policies and private development worked to push out Black residents from the city. Then they explored how many have organized to preserve and celebrate their community's history.

Robison and Swift tapped representatives from a few different D.C.-based organizations, including DCAESJ's program manager Vanessa Williams and Mariana Barros-Titus of the D.C. History Center to speak on panels about their knowledge and personal experiences in D.C. Students prepared questions on a variety of themes including "changes and gentrification," "protests and community organizing," and "the Chinatown neighborhood" in advance of the panels and then asked:

• Would you be happy about the current changes you see in D.C. if African Americans could be accommodated and included in those changes? 

• In what ways has D.C. changed since the '68 and/or '91 riots? 

• How does D.C. differ from how it looked when you were growing up? 

• What do you think can be done to stop the displacement of D.C. residents due to gentrification? 

Read about Sweet Cherie's Teach the Beat visits at GGA earlier in the 2022/23 school year.