While Keith Webster may no longer be a Lakeland resident, he has family roots dating back to 1890 in the historically Black College Park neighborhood.

The Lakeland of his youth was a place where people always had something to do and where community members always took care of each other, Webster said.

When people left the neighborhood, they brought Lakeland’s concept of community to their new homes, the 73-year-old said. Even when Webster had a job at a jail in Washington, D.C., he spread Lakeland’s idea of community to inmates, he added.

The Washington, D.C., resident taught inmates the spirit of Lakeland’s community, which helped change them to people with careers, he said. One man Webster taught became a tradesperson, while another created several illustrated books and started his own business, he said.

“I took the Lakeland book and explained it to them, helped them to understand the concept of community,” Webster said. “They got it.”

Lakeland is one of many communities where some residents had to relocate because of urban renewal — an effort by federal and local officials to revitalize urban areas, often focused on relocating residents out of overcrowded areas.

[Lakeland residents discuss community’s history, reparations in town hall]

The process is widely criticized for targeting and displacing Black communities across the United States.

Urban renewal, which lasted in Lakeland from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, displaced 104 out of 150 Lakeland households, according to the Lakeland Community Heritage Project.

“There was a lot of anger,” Webster said. “There’s still people who have a lot of anger because of that, who were displaced.”

At a ceremony on Thursday, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George’s County, rededicated the College Park Community Center and Lake Artemesia Natural Area — notable places in the Lakeland community.

At the ceremony, the College Park Community Center was rededicated as the Lakeland College Park Community Center. The Lake Artemesia Natural Area was also rededicated as the Lake Artemesia Natural Area at Lakeland.

During the ceremony, College Park District 2 city council member Llatetra Brown Esters said the renaming was a good way to honor the Lakeland community.

“Ultimately, a name tells you not only who you are, but who you belong to,” Esters said.

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The rededication came after recommendations by the city’s Restorative Justice Commission, according to College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir.

Kabir said the dedication both celebrates Lakeland’s heritage and aims to address some of the harms caused by urban renewal. While the city might not be able to completely reverse those harms, Kabir said, it is trying to listen to residents to bring Lakeland as close to its former glory as possible.

Esters told The Diamondback that she wants University of Maryland students who reside in Lakeland to understand its history.

“I hope that they’ll take the time to truly understand what this community was, what it still is and how they can connect,” Esters said.

This is only the beginning, Webster said. He wants to see some streets renamed in honor of Lakeland. He wants to see names — such as those of the community center and natural area — that will remind people of what Lakeland was, he said.

Webster added that he hopes for less rentals in the area, and for more community activities like tai chi and farmers markets so residents can engage with Lakeland’s history.

Webster would also like to see students at this university engage in community service in the neighborhood, like tutoring, he said. One day, Webster hopes to move back to Lakeland.

“We need to embrace and let love enter into our interactions,” Webster said. “That’s what Lakeland was all about.”