Shaw History Comes Alive during Two Free History Tours, 09/22/19

On Sunday, September 22, 2019, Cultural Tourism DC and Shaw Main  Streets will present two two-hour tours of central Shaw.

Led by Shaw Main Streets Executive Director Alexander M. Padro, the tours describe how the neighborhood developed in the 19th and 20th centuries and the 21st century revitalization effort that has made the neighborhood a popular place to live, work, shop, play, pray and learn. 

The tours are offered free of charge, and no advance registration is required.

Shaw: Where DC Comes Together, Part I

Sunday, September 22, 2019, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Meet at Southeast Corner, 7th Street & New York Avenue, NW

DC’s Shaw neighborhood has always been a crossroads. Today, the Washington Convention Center dominates the neighborhood's southern half, but it once consisted of woods and a few farms. Notable historic figures lived and worked in lower central Shaw, including explorer John Wesley Powell, African American U.S. Senator Blanche K. Bruce, and historian Carter G. Woodson. 

Shaw: Where DC Comes Together, Part II

Sunday, September 22, 2019, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Meet in front of Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 7th Street, NW

Entertainment has long been the focus of central Shaw’s northern half, from the Howard Theatre, where every star in the Black entertainment pantheon performed and the pool hall where Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington decided to become a musician, to the two sites that hosted baseball teams. Highlights include renovated movie theater buildings and the city’s first African American YWCA.