I first learned about the Greentree-Teutonia Apartments community in 2022 while working on a project with former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Guy Boulton. What I saw was a community that had the potential to tell its own stories.
Led by program director Vicki Davidson, the Greentree-Teutonia Community Learning Center reminded me of the community centers I attended as a child in Northeast Washington, DC in the 1970s. My Greentree was the Benning Stoddert Recreation Center. It was less than a mile from our apartment, but my mom had to drive me there anyway. It was a safe place where kids could learn, play sports, and explore a wide range of arts and crafts.
Benning is where my love of photography began. The class was taught by a man I only knew as Bubba. His constant encouragement and smile made me want to photograph everything around me. And I usually did.
One day, I was sitting behind a toddler in a furry hoodie on a city bus. As the little girl turned to look at me, another child reached out to her. Two children touched. I captured the moment.
This photo is still one of my favorites. It changed the way I see the world. I now see it as many slices of life.
As part of the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University, I spent 15 months documenting life in Greentree, a 14-acre public housing complex north of Milwaukee that is home to more than 700 people. I was assisted by Marquette students Isabel Bonebrake and Megan Woolard.
I have had the privilege of collecting stories of heartache and triumph from a community that is often overlooked and misunderstood.
Over the course of the project, I spent time in Greentree almost every day. What people don’t realize is that as a photographer, you have to work in the moment. You have to be in the moment when life is really unfolding. I wanted to capture life as it happens – without any fuss.
Throughout the project, I kept a journal to record important moments. I shared some of the passages in the stories. I didn’t journal every day, but I wrote things down when there was something that moved me, was funny – something I wanted to remember.
The people made me feel at home. They let me tell their stories and were open and honest. I didn’t take that for granted. In many ways, Greentree took me back to my childhood and where my photography story began.
Angela Peterson is a photojournalist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she has worked since July 2003.. She can be reached at [email protected].
About the project
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer Angela Peterson spent 15 months at the Greentree-Teutonia Apartments, a public housing complex on Milwaukee’s north side. As part of the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University, Peterson took thousands of photographs, kept a journal, and wrote stories capturing the heartache and triumph of a community that is often overlooked and misunderstood. She was assisted by Marquette students Isabel Bonebrake and Megan Woolard. Marquette University and the program administration had no role in the reporting, editing, or presentation of this project.
Project loans
- Reporter, photographer: Angela Peterson
- Contributing reporters: Alison Dirr, Piet Levy
- Editor: Jill Williams
- Contributing editors: Greg Borowski, Ashley Luthern
- Image editing: Sherman Williams, Berford Gammon
- Editing: Chris Foran, Pete Sullivan
- Assistants to Marquette O’Brien: Isabela Bonebrake, Megan Woolard
- Design: Kyle Slagle, Krista Wilcox
- Social Media: Ridah Syed
