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Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The nation's only monument to African American Civil War soldiers. More than 209,000 names of the United States Colored Troops who fought in the Union Army are inscribed on 157 burnished stainless steel plaques. Arranged according to regiment, the names include those of the 7,000 white officers who served with the African American troops. At the center of the plaza encircled by the inscribed names is a sculpture, The Spirit of Freedom, by artist Ed Hamilton.
The African American Civil War Memorial Museum, in the U Street district of Washington, D.C., recognizes the contributions of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The site consists of a 9-foot bronze statue entitled The Spirit of Freedom by sculptor Ed Hamilton of Louisville, Kentucky, and indoor exhibits at the historic Grimke School, named after Archibald Grimke.
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Native Washingtonians Duke Ellington and Pearl Bailey performed in the Lincoln Theatre. The theatre also hosted shows by Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, Billie Holliday and Sarah Vaughn.
A historic theater, opened in 1910 and extensively renovated in 2012 after decades of vandalism, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Small theatre company that performs at Source Theater.
A National Historic Site. Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week here in 1926, which later became Black History Month.
The Studio Theatre can lay claim to being the vanguard of D.C. Theatre. It's spacious, modern, comfortable, and puts on absolutely top-notch contemporary dramatic performances. If what's playing here appeals to you at all, make a night here a priority.
A Masonic temple, the headquarters of the Scottish Rite, and a prominently featured location in Dan Brown's 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol. It's almost absurdly grand, pretty easily outshining the similar Supreme Court Building in Capitol Hill, and there's nary a Washingtonian around who hasn't at some point walked by it, surprised by this enormous but unidentified building. The interior is a wild Orientalist fantasy in way that only the Masons could bring to life, and is open to the public for guided tours.