General Charles H. Howard oversaw plans to establish and develop Barry Farm, a Washington, D.C. neighborhood where formerly enslaved Americans could purchase land and homes after the Civil War. Howard’s brother, General Oliver O. Howard, was Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and both men were on the Board of Trustees of the Barry Farm Fund. General Charles Howard traveled to Bangor, Maine to acquire the lumber which was sold along with plots of land, enabling buyers to build their own A-frame house. According to local historian Dianne Dale, he was also president of the Hillsdale Civic Association and he lived next to the Campbell Church.
In 1977, the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum’s Board of Directors voted to include Howard’s portrait in “Phil Ratner’s Washington,” an exhibition honoring current and former Anacostia residents who contributed to the civic life of the community.
