Take a storied journey down memory lane when D.C.’s greater historic U Street corridor’s businesses were black owned and run; its buildings, built and financed by blacks; its entertainment, by and for blacks. Discover the unsung CHANGEMAKERS, CIVIC, and CULTURAL LANDMARKS of this “Great Black Way,” which by 1920 boasted more than 300 black businesses within a few square miles.
The Lincoln Theatre
1215 U Street, NW (next to Ben's Chili Bowl)
The Howard Theatre
620 T Street, NW
The Crystal Caverns
2001 11th Street, NW
Republic Gardens
1355 U Street, NW
Ben's Chili Bowl
1213 U Street, NW
Harrison's Café
455 Florida Avenue, NW
Scurlock Photographic Studio
900 U Street, NW
PHYLLIS WHEATLEY YWCA
901 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
The Capital School of Photography
1813 18th Street, NW
Jungle Inn
1211 U Street, NW
The Casbah
1211 U Street, NW
Booker T. Theatre
1433 U Street, NW
Mid-City Theater
1223 Ninth Street, NW
Broadway Theatre
1517 7th Street, NW
Minnehaha Nickelodeon Theater
1213 U Street, NW
The Whitelaw Hotel
1839 13th Street, NW
Cecelia's Restaurant
618 T Street, NW
The Southern Society Aid Society/Dunbar Theater
1901-3 7th Street, NW
The True Reformer Building
1200 U Street, NW
Frelinghuysen University
1800 Vermont Avenue, NW
Industrial Savings Bank
2000 11th Street at U Street, NW
Industrial Bank of Washington
2000 11th Street at U Street, NW
Jackson's All-Sports Club
1831 Wiltberger Street, NW
Grand United Order of Odd Fellows Building (GUOOF)
9th and T Streets, NW
Alfred Steak House
1610 U Street, NW
MURRAY BROTHERS PRINTING COMPANY/MURRAY'S PALACE CASINO
918 U Street, NW
DUKE ELLINGTON'S CHILDHOOD RESIDENCES
13th street between T and S Streets, NW
THE EVANS-TIBBS HOUSE (NR)
1910 Vermont Avenue, NW
THE MARY ANN SHADD CARY HOUSE (NHL)
1421 W Street, NW
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON RESIDENCE
1461 S Street, NW
JEAN TOOMER RESIDENCE
1341 U Street, NW
THE MARY CHURCH TERRELL HOUSE (NHL)
326 T Street, NW
THE MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE COUNCIL HOUSE (NHS)
1318 Vermont Avenue, NW
ANNA J. COOPER
201 T STREET, NW
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR RESIDENCE
321 U Street, NW
CARTER G. WOODSON HOUSE (NR)
1538 9th Street, NW
ARMSTRONG MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL
1400 First Street, NW
ANTHONY BOWEN/12th STREET YMCA (12TH STREET BRANCH) NHL
1816 12th Street, NW
CLUB BALI
1901 14th Street, NW
THE REPUBLIC THEATRE
1333 U Street, NW
UNDERDOWN DELICATESSEN
1742 U Street, NW
CORTEZ W. PETERS BUSINESS SCHOOL
1308 U Street, NW
LEE'S FLOWER AND CARD SHOP
1026 U Street, NW
LITTLE HARLEM
1851 Seventh Street, NW
DUNBAR HIGH SCHOOL/M STREET SCHOOL
128 M Street, NW
CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON RESIDENCE
1744 S Street, NW
LANGSTON HUGHES RESIDENCE
1749 S Street, NW
GARNET PATTERSON
2001 10th Street, NW
UNITED HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE, CHURCH ON THE ROCK OF THE APOSTOLIC FAITH
601 M Street, NW
SHAW JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Marion St, NW
The Lincoln Congregational Temple United Church of Christ (NR)
1701 11th Street, NW
Cardozo High School
1200 Clifton Street, NW
Griffith Stadium
between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue, NW
Freedman's Hospital
1909 at Bryant and 6th Streets, NW
Florida Avenue Grill
1100 Florida Avenue, NW
Church of God
2006 Georgia Avenue, NW
Club Bengasi
1423-25 U Street, NW
Barksdale Cafeteria
1934 9th Street, NW
Pig N' Pit
6th St. and Florida Ave., NW
Brass Rail
7th and S Streets, NW
Capitol Grill
1228 U Street, NW
Charles Hotel
1338 R Street, NW
Chez Maurice
1900 block of 9th Street, NW
Club Cimmaron
1914 1/2 13th Street, NW
Club Madre
2204 14th Street, NW
Cozy Corner
708 Florida Avenue, NW
Green Parrot
1218 U Street, NW
Harlem Inn
1541 9th Street, NW
Harrington's Restaurant
1900 block of 9th Street, NW
Hollywood Tavern
1940 9th Street, NW
TheScurlock Photographic Studio
900 U Street, NW (now Nellie's Sports Bar)
Famed photographer Addison Scurlock opened the Scurlock Photographic Studio at 900 U Street (the African-American community's theater district) in 1911 and concentrated on portraiture and general photography. His clients included brides, achievers, conventioneers, and socialites. He took portraits of such notables as educators Booker T. Washington and Mary McLeod Bethune, composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, engineer Archie Alexander, political leader W.E.B. DuBois, former first lady Mamie Eisenhower, singer Billy Eckstine, physician Charles R. Drew, opera singer Madame Lillian Evanti and poet Sterling Brown. This highly respected photographer also documented key moments in Washington, D.C. history.
AddisonScurlock
Owner of Scurlock Photographic Studio
ADDISON SCURLOCK was born on June 19, 1883 in Fayettesville, North Carolina. When Addison founded Scurlock Photographic Studio at his parent's home in the 500 block of Florida Ave in 1904, little did he know that it was the genesis of an unheralded legacy for Black Washingtonians. His studio portraits immortalized and celebrated notable African Americans of the day like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Madame Lillian Evanti, Mary McLeod Bethune, Anna J. Cooper, among many others. In addition to studio portraits, he mastered the use of the panoramic camera and shot conventions, banquets, and graduations. By the 1920s, he had earned a national reputation. He was the official photographer of Howard University until his death in 1964, and he recorded all aspects of university life. Scurlock also produced a series of portraits of African-American leaders that historian Carter G. Woodson distributed to African-American schools nationwide. One of his most significant photographs was that of Marion Anderson singing in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. A 1976 Washington Post article by Jacqueline Trescott read "For years one of the marks of arriving socially in Black Washington was to have your portrait hanging in Scurlock's window.