Funkstown: African American Women in the Historic District

By Denise Vogt and Frank Leone

One benefit of immersing oneself in the neighborhood’s history is rediscovering the stories of its residents. For many families, it was the Black women who held this community and their families together.

Meet Angeline James (1877-1979). She resided at 2507 I Street and lived to be over 100 years old. She was born in Halifax, Va. and her parents were freed slaves. She was married and widowed twice and had a good friend named Kathleen. She took special care to be a good neighbor and looked after stray cats. She was an ordained missionary of the Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, then located at 25^th and H Sts. Her obituary in the Foggy Bottom News described her as “the grand old lady of Foggy Bottom.” You can read all about Ms. James at the 2507 I St. House History page and on-line Foggy Bottom News articles, here, here, and here.

Angeline James as she appeared in the November 1972 article in the Foggy Bottom News, written by resident Jane Planck.

Meet Della M. Shaw (1874 – 1937). She rented the narrow house at 2417 I St. in 1920-21. She was a cook and had expert skills combining flour, eggs, sugar and yeast. She ran a bakery from the rowhouse in a very small kitchen with a coal stove. Before living in Foggy Bottom, she had bakery shops in other locations in the city. In 1909, she was the President of the Missionary Society of the Friendship Baptist Church. You can learn more about Ms. Shaw and other residents over the years at the 2417 I St. House History Page.

Della Shaw’s Boston House Bakery classified ad makes it clear bread is a daily necessity. Washington Times, Aug. 14, 1920.

Meet “Mama” Eleanora Carmichael. City records and Census data indicate the Carmichaels lived at houses 2502, 2505 and 2512 I Streets. She was born in Mississippi in 1883. In the 1950s, she lists her occupation as a charwoman or maid. Her husband Alonzo worked as an elevator operator at the National Museum (now the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building). In this rowhouse at 2512 I St., they resided with their children and extended family members. “Mama” was the matriarch of the family and also looked after some of the neighbor kids. Granddaughter Dorothy came through the neighborhood a while ago and shared many stories and photos of her life here in the Bottom with one of our residents. More details on the Carmichaels are on the 2512 I St. House History Page.

(Top left to right) Eleanora Carmichael, granddad Alonzo and her dad Anatole (Chalk) McKann, Bottom left to right: Rolland, Lloyd and Alonzo Jr. Photo courtesy of Dorothy Carmichael. 

They are just a few of the African American women in the Historic District who had limited job opportunities and a lot of responsibility. We share these stories to honor these women and others like them.

Use the interactive Historic District House Map and the 250 individual House History Pages to find many stories of the people who breathed life into Foggy Bottom Historic District’s alleys, rowhouses, and common spaces. If you have stories to share, we’d love to hear them.

Learn more about the FBA History Project endeavors.

In honor of Black History Month, see other Funkstown posts, including our interview with Colbert King; the Underground Railroad in Foggy Bottom; Slavery in Foggy Bottom, What do the Underground Railroad and the GWU’s President’s House Have in Common?; Foggy Bottom’s Lost African American Churches and Community; Martha Briggs and her Lost Schools; Since 1868, West End’s Historic Thaddeus Stevens School; Foggy Bottom’s Rev. Leonard Grimes in the Abolition Hall of Fame; Happy “West End” Birthday Duke Ellington; Representing Black Foggy Bottom - the Lincoln Civic Association; Green’s Court – They wanted Housing, They Got Highways; and Dr. John R. Francis and his Foggy Bottom Sanitorium.