U Street: Like Harlem, a Home to Great Black Literature

When you consider the Harlem Renaissance, you naturally think of New York City. But many of the writers most closely associated with that time also have strong ties to Washington DC.

Langston Hughes, possibly the greatest black writer of that period lived for a time in DC. So did his female contemporary Zora Neal Hurston, the author of the classic Their Eyes Were Watching God. Jean Toomer's novel Cane was set in Washington.

Although the black writers roamed around the capital, the area they were most associated with was U Street and its surrounding neighborhoods of LeDroit Park and Shaw. U Street itself was known as DC's Black Broadway from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Last week, a special literary-themed walk was offered as one of the DC By the Book Tours, designed by the DC Public Library. The tour was part of a week-long program featuring 4 walking tours which were operated as part of the annual week-long  Walkingtown DC, sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC.

The tour was designed and led by Kim Roberts, an editor of the Beltway Poetry Quarterly. Roberts is also one of the prime movers behind the DC Writers Homes project.

At each of the tours 14 stops, volunteers would read a passage from an author associated with that location. As a special benefit, readers got to choose one of 2 books for their efforts - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz. The books were courtesy of the DC Library.

The YMCA where
Hughes roomed

For example, outside a YMCA where Hughes once had a room, the description was highlighted by this excerpt from Hughes' autobiography, The Big Sea.

I arrived in Washington with only a sailor's peajacket protecting me from the winter winds. All my shirts were ragged and my trousers frayed. I am sure I did not look like a distinguished poet, when I walked up to my cousin's porch in Washington's Negro section, LeDroit Park ... Listen, everybody! Never go live with relatives if you're broke! That is an error.

Or here is a poem "I Sit and Sew" by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, the wife of noted black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, who worked for a time at the Library of Congress.

I sit and sew—a useless task it seems,

My hands grown tired, my head weighed down with dreams—

The panoply of war, the martial tread of men,

Grim-faced, stern-eyed, gazing beyond the ken

Of lesser souls, whose eyes have not seen Death,

Nor learned to hold their lives but as a breath—

But—I must sit and sew.

I sit and sew—my heart aches with desire—

That pageant terrible, that fiercely pouring fire

On wasted fields, and writhing grotesque things

Once men. My soul in pity flings

Appealing cries, yearning only to go

There in that holocaust of hell, those fields of woe—

But—I must sit and sew.

The little useless seam, the idle patch;

Why dream I here beneath my homely thatch,

When there they lie in sodden mud and rain,

Pitifully calling me, the quick ones and the slain?

You need me, Christ! It is no roseate dream

That beckons me—this pretty futile seam,

It stifles me—God, must I sit and sew?

Walking DC's Literary Past

The now-gone Gaety Burlesque

Did you know that the nondescript J. Crew store on F Street was once the original site of the 9:30 Club, the scene for some of DC's most legendary rock shows? Or that the location was a setting for a scene in noted crime noir writer George Pelecanos' novel Shoedog?

Or were you aware the ultra-chic, uber-expensive, upscale City Center complex now coming to life is on a spot that was once at the heart of DC's seedy red-light district, an area then populated by bars where naked women and men danced day and night? Or that famed Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was a frequent visitor to one of the burlesque houses in the neighborhood?

Well, the answer to all of these questions would be yes if you had taken one of the DC By the Book Tours, designed by the DC Public Library.

The goal of the project, which is a collaborative effort among local librarians, experts in DC fiction, and city historical organizations, is to create a crowd-sourced map of literature set in DC that illuminates the city's geographical and social history.

Today, we accompanied librarians Tony Ross and Kim Zablud on their 2-mile tour entitled Downtown's Nightlife. As we walked the area that is now home to exclusive restaurants, elegant hotels, and expensive condos, Ross and Zablud explained the changes that had occurred in the area that was once the center of DC's sordid nightlife scene.

The best part of the tour is that it was interactive. At selected stops, tour participants read a brief excerpt from a short story or novel using that site as a setting. For example, here is what Pelecanos wrote about the old 9:30 Club:

Constantine could see some club action on F Street, the lettered block that ran to 9th. A group of kids stood halfway down the block, most of them smoking, leaning against the gated front of a shoe store. They wore flannel shirts, all of them; it looked to Constantine as if the boots they wore on their feet were the same style he'd worn in the Marines. One of them yelled something at him, and the rest of them laughed.

Downtown's Nightlife is one of 4 tours now offered. The others are:

• Foggy Bottom
• Georgetown and                     
• U Street                

This week all 4 tours are being operated as part of the annual week-long Walkingtown DC sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC.

Of course, having expert guides is the best way to take any tour. But you can undertake the tour on your own. The library has designed and is offering an app (DC By the Book Tours) that is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.