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Before Harlem, There
Was U Street
Take a walk along Washington's "Black Broadway” - where Duke Ellington grew up and was inspired, where musical greats such as Cab Calloway and Dizzy Gillespie played local clubs into the wee hours of the morning, and where movie palaces mingled with pool halls, restaurants and barber shops. Here in the shadow of Howard University, African Americans created a strong community that produced leaders for the city and the nation. You’ll see the Lincoln Theatre, a 1922 movie palace, restored to its gilded glory; the Thurgood Marshall Center, a grand historic building that once housed the first full-service African American YMCA; and The African American Civil War Memorial, the only national monument to Black Civil War soldiers. (Sponsored by Washington Walks and Cultural Tourism DC)
