North Portal Estates
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North Portal Estates is an affluent residential neighborhood in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
that forms the northernmost corner of the District of Columbia. North Portal Estates is bounded by North Portal Drive to the south, East Beach Drive to the west and northwest, and
Rock Creek Park Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The park was created by an Act of Congress in 1890 and today is administered by the National Park Service. In addition to the park proper, the Rock Cr ...
to the northeast. It is not set on any major thoroughfare in the city, although North Portal Drive is accessible via a rotary intersection on 16th Street NW. Because of its isolation via the park and lack of major streets, the neighborhood is extraordinarily suburban in character, full of winding streets, detached houses on large lots, and open space. North Portal Estates and the rest of Ward 4 are represented in the
Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...
by
Janeese Lewis George Janeese Lewis George (born April 30, 1988) is an American lawyer, politician, and activist in Washington, D.C. She is the Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from Ward 4. George is a member of the Democratic Party. Elected in N ...
. The community was mostly Jewish, in contrast to the nearby
Colonial Village Colonial Village is an area in northwest Washington, D.C., built in 1931 with 80 residences. The homes are reproductions of colonial buildings, such as the Moore House, where General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.''Historical Dicti ...
, which was a mostly Protestant neighborhood.''Historical Dictionary of Washington, Part 3'' (eds. Robert Benedetto, Jane Donovan & Kathleen Du Vall (Scarecrow Press, 2003), pp. 192-93. The community was constructed by wealthy Jewish families in the 1950s and 1960s, following the 1948 Supreme Court decision striking down racially restrictive covenants. The homes in North Portal Estates are larger and more recent than the older homes in Shepherd Park. Racial covenants were prohibited by law by the
1968 Fair Housing Act The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...
. African-Americans began moving into North Portal Estates in the late 1960s and early 1970s, comprising two-thirds of the population by the 1980s as the older Jewish population began to move away or die. By the early 1980s, North Portal Estates had become a premier neighborhood for upper-middle-class African-American professionals in Washington, D.C., including doctors, lawyers, business people, clergy, and politicians. While mostly black, the neighborhood is multiracial as some white Jewish families have remained in the neighborhood. By the 2010s, the neighborhood was still predominantly upscale, but had become home to a more socioeconomically and racially mixed population.


References

African-American history of Washington, D.C. African-American upper class Colonial Village Historic Jewish communities in the United States Jews and Judaism in Washington, D.C. Neighborhoods in Northwest (Washington, D.C.) {{WashingtonDC-geo-stub