Neighborhoods in Washington are constantly shifting, and Anacostia finds itself in the midst of one such change. So let’s start today with the Great Migration, when tens of thousands of African Americans left the South and many stopped right here in Washington D.C.

Charlene Butler Rutger’s family was one of many shaped by that migration. Her grandfather came and then almost all of his brothers and sisters followed him to Anacostia. Anacostia Unmapped contributor John Johnson talks with her about how social networks — and family dinner in particular — grounds them in tradition.

Photograph by Brandon Gatling.