1915 DCNorth of downtown · 4 photographs
U Street and Shaw
The heart of Black Washington, from Howard University to the theatres of "Black Broadway".
History
In the segregated city of the 1910s and 1920s, U Street and the surrounding Shaw neighbourhood were the centre of Black Washington’s business and cultural life, later known as “Black Broadway”, with Howard University close by. The Howard Theatre opened in 1910 and the Lincoln Theatre in 1922; the True Reformer Building, the 12th Street YMCA (1912) and the Whitelaw Hotel (1919) were built by and for Black Washingtonians.
During the riot of July 1919, when white mobs attacked Black residents across the city, people in this area armed themselves and made a stand around Seventh and U Streets.
What's there now
The Howard Theatre (reopened 2012) and the Lincoln Theatre (reopened 1994) have been restored, U Street is a busy area of restaurants and music venues, and the African American Civil War Memorial (1991) stands near the U Street Metro station.
Then and now
Few of the photographs on this site show this neighbourhood: the commercial studios whose negatives survive at the Library of Congress mostly worked for white clients and government offices. Where we have them, the streets are recognisable; much was damaged in the riots of 1968 and rebuilt since.
Photographs 4, oldest first
Nearby: Griffith Stadium · The Knickerbocker Theatre · Dupont Circle and the avenues · The Treasury · Downtown and F Street