Undesign the Redline: An Exhibit Exploring Race-Based Exclusion in Upper Northwest DC

Undesign the Redline (not about the Metro!) is a national, traveling exhibit that explores the history of explicit race-based exclusion, specifically in upper Northwest DC. The exhibit helps us understand why inequities in housing and wealth persist, and encourages us to ask how we can “undesign” these wrongs. Suitable for middle-school aged children and older.

The exhibit is open during regular library hours. It is designed to be self-guided, but anyone may join tours with trained guides on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Thursdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. To arrange a special tour for a group, email wfjensen@gmail.com.

Check out the schedule of special programs and learn more at undesigndc.org.

Questions? Email undesigndc@gmail.com.

Backstory:

In the fall of 2020, parishioners from St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in upper Northwest DC visited the Undesign the Redline exhibit on display in Columbia, MD. They were deeply affected by the exhibit, astonished that just 5 panels of history, maps, and images could capture devastating local and national stories of housing discrimination by design. The parishioners vowed to do more to tell others about this history. In 2023, St. Columba’s invited other Ward 3 houses of worship to help plan and launch the exhibit as a catalyst for education, conversation, and action to undo the injustices of racial segregation in our neighborhood and beyond.

This is the first time that this entirely secular exhibit has been initiated by faith communities.