Shaw, Washington, D.C.

Shaw is a neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C. It is roughly bounded by N Street NW to the south; New Jersey Avenue NW to the east; Florida Avenue NW to the north; and 11th Street NW to the west--although there is a westward panhandle that extends to 16th Street between S Street and U Street. Shaw once included the areas of smaller neighborhoods, such as Logan Circle and Truxton Circle, but in recent years those neighborhoods have grown into their own and become separate from Shaw.

History

Shaw grew out of freed slave encampments in the rural outskirts of Washington City. It was named after Civil War Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

Shaw thrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the pre-Harlem center of African-American intellectual and cultural life. Howard Theological Seminary received its first matriculates in 1866; by 1925, Professor Alain Locke was advancing the idea of "The New Negro," and Langston Hughes was descending from Le Droit Park to hear the "sad songs" of 7th Street. The most famous Shaw native to emerge from this period—sometimes called the Black Renaissance of DC—was Duke Ellington.

Following the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, riots erupted in many D.C. neighborhoods, including Shaw, Columbia Heights, and the H Street NE Corridor. The 1968 Washington, D.C. riots marked the beginning of a decline in population and development that would condemn much of the inner city to a generation of economic decay.

Shaw, like Logan Circle, is a mostly residential neighborhood of 19th century Victorian row houses. The allure of these houses, Shaw's central location, and the booming D.C. housing market have begun to transform Shaw through gentrification. According to Census records from 1970, 92% of Shaw's residents were black; in 2000, 56% were black [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022202508.html] . Shaw's notable place in African American history has made the recent influx of affluent professionals particularly controversial.

Infrastructure and landmarks

Shaw is served by the Mt. Vernon Square Metro, Shaw/Howard Univ and U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo Green Line Metro stations.

Shaw's landmarks include Ben's Chili Bowl, the Lincoln Theatre, and the north portion of the Washington Convention Center.

"Little Ethiopia" controversy

Since around 2001, a number of Ethiopian restaurants and retail businesses have either opened or moved from nearby Adams Morgan into Shaw, settling in particular on the once desolate block of 9th Street NW between U and T Streets. This influx of Ethiopians has revitalized the corridor, prompting members of that enterprising community to lobby the city to officially designate the block as "Little Ethiopia." Shaw residents, however, have loudly expressed opposition to the proposal, feeling that such a designation would unfairly isolate that area from the historically African American Shaw. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/24/AR2005072401136.html] As of 2006, there has been no resolution to the conflict.

External links

* [http://www.dc.gov Government of the District of Columbia]
* [http://www.shawdc.com/ Shaw DC]
* [http://www.anc2c.org/ Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C]
* [http://www.ustreet.com/csna/ Cardozo-Shaw Neighborhood Association]
* [http://www.shawmainstreets.com/ Shaw Main Streets]
* [http://www.wmata.com/riding/visitors/u_street.cfm Washington, D.C. Beyond the Monuments: U Street/Shaw]
* [http://www.howard.edu/ Howard University]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022202508.html A Bittersweet Renaissance: Longtime Shaw Residents Ponder: Cash Out or Stay]