Chris FrazierWhile attending the HBCU Consortium’s Indaba and third annual Democracy Summit at Howard University, the N.C. Central University Campus Echo adviser Bruce dePyssler found time to photograph the renowned murals of Washington D.C.’s historic U Street Corridor.
“I asked a colleague, Olive Vassell, the director of the University of the District of Columbia’s Digital Media Program, for something interesting nearby to photograph,” said dePyssler. “Without a moment’s hesitation she directed me to U Street. ‘Just find Ben’s Chili Bowl and you’re there,’ she told me.”
The neighborhood started after the American Civil War and Age of Reconstruction. While it initially served as a residential complex for the African American community, it became a canvas for the city’s artists and stage for its musicians.
At the start of the 20th century, U street, through its opening of Lincoln, Howard Theater and the opening of Ben’s Chili Bowl, became known for promoting Black business and culture.
Known as “Black Broadway” for Washingtonians, the neighborhood served as a precursor to the Harlem Renaissance. Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong are just a few of the names that headlined Lincoln’s Theater.
The presence of Langston Hughes nurtured Jazz in the community and expanded the imagination of Black expression.
However, the Civil Rights Movement and assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. saw D.C., including U Street, engulfed in race riots. The Lincoln Theater was among some of the buildings that were damaged and U street lost the momentum it had since its founding.
But U Street is on the rebound. The buildings that survived the race riots were renovated and new entities, like the African American Civil War Memorial Museum, added to the neighborhood’s legacy.
The blending of multiple cultures continued and businesses like Ben’s Chili Bowl and Little Ethiopia thrive.
While laughter, joy and music fills a passerby’s ear, their eyes are glued to the many murals that line the community.
Whether it’s waking up to a massive mail man and his saxophone or walking by a Barack and Michelle Obama mural next to Ben’s Chili Bowl, U Street’s art serves as a time capsule of past movements and inspiration for the future.
See all U Street Corridor murals and dePyssler’s photography at https://bdepyssler.smugmug.com/.
