The Problem of 52: Part One- The Happy Hill Gardens Family Photograph Project Personal Narrative and Project Overview: 

“In 2003, with funding from the HOPE VI grant, the Winston-Salem Housing Authority announced that the former Happy Hill Garden community would be torn down and reconstructed with a new neighborhood. Over 400 families were displaced and my family being one of them.” The founder of NC Always, Chanel A. Nestor, personally watched families who had lived in this community for upwards of 70 years be systematically displaced. This community has been able to maintain a cohesiveness through events such as the “Happy Hill Gardens Reunion” which happens every year in the month of July. Her own family often reflects on old family photos taken in this community. She has a vision to create a new history for families who once resided in this community. 

The Happy Hill Garden Family Photograph Project will provide a resting place for an archive of photographs taken by community members in an effort to preserve a community which was displaced by urban renewal. The images will be a part of a digital archive housed at the O’Kelly Library at Winston Salem State University.