Rogerline Nicholson became a resident of Edgewood Terrace soon after it was built in 1971. She was born on February 25, 1925 in Selma, North Carolina, where she graduated from Richard B. Harrison High School. Looking for broader horizons, she moved to New York City, and then settled in Washington, DC in the 1950's. For much of her life she worked for Guest Services Inc., which operates cafeterias and dining services for government agencies. In that organization she rose to the position of head cook. And there she was a tireless union organizer, who saw to it that others at her work were fairly rewarded, as well, for their labor. For decades she was an active member of Mount Jezreel Baptist Church. Rogerline raised 6 children and lived to see 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. They called her "The Rock."

In 1971 Ms. Nicholson moved to the new high-rise at 635 Edgewood Street, NE-- part of Edgewood Terrace, a complex of high- and low-rise apartments for mixed income residents developed on the former site of a Catholic orphanage. Edgewood Terrace was seen in the community as a great place to retire, and as affordable, decent housing for families.

However, after 10 years of poor management and neglect, 635 Edgewood Street and the whole Edgewood Terrace complex was in a spiral of decay. At a time of widespread urban decline in the District of Columbia, Edgewood Terrace was to become notorious as a place rife with drugs, gangs, guns, and death. In a series of articles, The Washington Post detailed the depressing reality that had overcome this once-proud neighborhood on the edge of Catholic University. A headline from the time speaks of the misery: "Homes Becoming Prisons For Fearful Elderly (1988)." A local television news report dubbed Edgewood Terrace "Little Beirut."

But Rogerline Nicholson refused to give up. She reorganized the dormant Edgewood Terrace Tenants Association. She recruited help from faculty at the Georgetown Law School. She held fund-raising dinners in the Edgewood lobby. Money made from the dinners was plowed into a campaign to gain legal and political recognition for the plight of the neighborhood, and to get the attention of city officials who could do something about the problems of crime and poor maintenance. When other residents were making the decision to move if they could afford it, Ms. Nicholson was giving tours of her residence to any and every public official who would give her the time. An article in The Wall Street Journal tells how she, "brought in a stream of community leaders, members of Congress and HUD officials to show them the rats, the bombed-out-looking vacant apartments, the overflowing toilets, the leaky roof, the collapsed garage, the crumbling walls, the dark hideouts used by drug dealers (1995)."

Her living conditions in turmoil, Ms. Nicholson remained a dignified pillar of her church congregation. One of her friends from Mount Jezreel tells a story of how she would often give Ms. Nicholson a ride home to Edgewood Terrace after meetings. She says Rogerline would always talk about the poor state of the apartment buildings at Edgewood Terrace, and the effort the residents were making to get conditions improved. Says her friend, "I didn't realize she was leading those efforts!"

Like many successful community leaders, Ms. Nicholson knew how to spot good-help when she saw it. She was responsible for securing an abandoned apartment for Reverend Donald E. Robinson to start a community ministry and after-school program. This small beginning has now grown into Beacon House Community Ministry, which provides a thriving learning place for young people and many after-school activities such tutoring and team sports.

Ms. Nicholson was a person who tackled things that others merely complained about. One of her great strengths was her ability always to remain positive. In a press release in 1996, Ms. Nicholson said, "I've lived at Edgewood Terrace for over twenty years and have seen it go from new and beautiful and well-maintained to its terrible state now. But the residents have persevered and we will bring it back and make this community better than ever."

Ms. Nicholson passed away at age 75 on November 2, 2000, but she lived to see much of her dream of a better day for Edgewood Terrace coming true. Over two-thirds of the Edgewood Terrace complex has been renovated to date. Today people from an amazing range of income levels are drawn together in Edgewood Terrace because of the handsome new residential units, ample community meeting facilities, and high-tech learning centers for people of all ages. A community that was held up as a symbol of social decline in the Nation's Capital, has now become a model for community redevelopment projects nationwide. Many in this community are convinced that this would not be were it not for the personal commitment and almost super-human tenacity of Rogerline Nicholson. As Edgewood Terrace continues to grow and prosper, this wise and dedicated community activist would have us keep in mind something she said in 1995, "You've got to fight to get something, and then you've got to fight to keep it."