Gilpin Court lies on the far side of Jackson Ward, isolated since the 1950s by an interstate highway, I-95, that divided this once-thriving African-American community known as the Harlem of the South. Today, Gilpin Court is loosely associated with Jackson Ward, but is mostly known for a sprawling complex of government housing projects that are home to thousands of mostly low-income residents. The area is littered with abandoned homes, churches and empty lots. Still, there is culture and life in even the most forgotten places.
I gesture towards Gilpin Court, craggy and salmon-colored in the distance. “What do you see, when you look over there?” I ask. Fuad Fara, employee and chef at ANA, Gilpin Court’s only deli and convenience store, barely turns around. He grins, sly and sunny. “I see a business opportunity,” Fara says.
by Lucy Nalen Sam Winston, 61, serves as an elder at Temple of God apostolic church in Gilpin Court. Which means he’s a leader of the church that he helped build from scratch on an empty lot 20 years ago. I asked him about the size of the congregation. “Sometimes 20, sometimes 25, sometimes four,” Read more about A Vision, an Empty Lot, an Answered Prayer[…]
The forced estrangement is evident even in the landscape. Flourishing Jackson Ward boasts manicured front lawns and pruned bushes. Flowering trees line the streets, bursts of color are on display in porch-side pots. As I walk down the sidewalks, I imagine self-satisfied residents swapping gardening tips with their neighbours. On the other side of the highway, Gilpin Court resident Lee Basin is quick to reassure me of his neighborhood’s equivalent beauty.
Anthony Leonard is a bull underneath his soft edges, hiding in plain sight. On most days, the former San Francisco 49ers cornerback plays pick-up basketball with kids at a resource center in Gilpin Court, a government housing project in the heart of Jackson Ward.