As A D.C. Public Housing Complex Faces Redevelopment, One Teenager Reflects

In 2016, photographer Joy Sharon Yi began taking the Metro to Barry Farm, a large public housing complex in Southeast Washington, D.C., built in 1943 on the first city settlement where African-Americans could buy property and build homes after the Civil War.

Yi was drawn to Barry Farm's history and the looming shadow of change. She spent time getting to know residents at the famed Goodman League basketball games and eventually began documenting the community. At that time, "Barry Farm residents ... feared being displaced, but the community was not yet on its last legs," Yi says. "Residents [and] former residents really, genuinely loved their community. I wanted to document that joy before the buildings came down."

In 2005, the District government launched the — a plan to redevelop the 444 units at Barry Farm into a.