While President Donald Trump and top administration officials muse about transforming public golf courses in Washington into high-end attractions, some in the city question what that could mean for a scrappy course along the Anacostia River built during segregation for Black golfers.
One of three courses in the D.C. area owned by the National Park Service, the Langston Golf Course had been slated for a major overhaul by a nonprofit group hired in 2020 by the federal government. The Trump administration blew up that deal last fall, with officials suggesting they had far more grandiose visions.
That’s left the golfers who love Langston wondering if they will be included as Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum talk about the possibilities of turning the East Potomac Golf Course, located next to the National Mall, into a professional-level course. At the same time, they fear that kind of renovation could turn the affordable course steeped in the city’s African American history into something unrecognizable.
Mike Smith, a 75-year-old golfer born and raised in the Langston area, said he worries the golf course could be razed, with nothing left to mark what it has meant to Black residents but a historical marker.
