Black History, Alive in Washington

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

A quilt, part of the exhibition “Jubilee: African American Celebration,” at the Anacostia Community Museum.

Black History, Alive in Washington

By HOLLAND COTTER

In 1957 Washington officially became the country’s first city where blacks were the majority. But by then, artists, writers and performers of African descent had been flourishing there for a century and a half or more. Seeking out their traces makes for a lively city tour, and one very much of the moment as an African-American first family makes Washington its home.

But before the tour, a shout-out of names you’ll be looking for: Alma Thomas, Frederick Douglass, Duke Ellington, Elizabeth Catlett, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Sweet Daddy Grace, Lois Mailou Jones and Marian Anderson, not to mention Marvin Gaye and the godfather of Go-go — the D.C. version of funk — Chuck Brown. All long-term or short-term Washingtonians; all in spirit or person still here read more...