Tenleytown Argumentative Essay

As Washington D.C.’s second oldest town, Tenleytown has grown from a country village to a city neighborhood. Much of this transition involved the gathering of the Tenleytown community to fight crises or advocate for their neighborhood. Tenleytown citizens have fought against the relocation of the black Reno City community, fought for the rightful name of their Metro station, and fought against business and residential real estate development. Tenleytown residents have a shared history that has created a sense of place within their community, because they are willing to take action anytime Tenleytown or the community is threatened. Since the nineteenth century as a rural village, Tenleytown has grown to become an essential part of Washington

Contraband slaves and freedmen were attracted to the protection and employment provided at the Union Army forts. In return for housing and food, blacks would serve as laborers, cooks, seamstresses, etc. For a historically-discriminated population, the amenities of Tenleytown seemed like heaven. In Tenleytown, blacks were able to make a fair life for themselves and their families. By 1900, Reno City was 75 percent African American and included a school, three churches, and a Masonic lodge. It was a small, but vibrant community. “Most of the houses were not very sturdy, just “shanty” frame structures built on stilts, but home to freed slaves the displaced and indigent whites who sought refuge after the Civil War around the old fort that had occupied the site.” Despite racism throughout the United States, blacks and whites got along well in Tenleytown. “Compared with those who lived in the city of Washington, the blacks of Tennallytown were well off… The residents were not neglected, because the neighbors, black and white, knew and cared about one another. Most of the families on the Fort were related to other families there, were members of a local church congregation, and shared a very real feeling of community”10 This friendly relationship must have made living in Tenleytown that much better. While Tenleytown was still segregated, residents are accepting of all people even if others outside of town were not as caring. This is only one example of the sense of