Pictures of U

The corner of 14th and U Street Northwest is not the Washington, D.C. that tourists typically visit, that elegant city of cherry blossoms and monuments. The neighborhood around 14th and U Street is a gritty patch of murals and alleys, and a vibrant multiracial crossroads. It is a dynamic slice of the real D.C., and it is gorgeous.

The intersection is infused with – and burdened by – history. On April 4, 1968, the night of Martin Luther King, Jr.s’ assassination, 14th and U became the street corner from which a paroxysm of rage left a wide swath of D.C.’s urban core in a shambles for decades.

Long before the ‘68 riots tore the area apart, U Street was Black Broadway, the city’s most illustrious African American neighborhood, and 14th Street was a prosperous commercial corridor serving a largely Black community.

Some neighborhoods around U Street are still recovering in a city that has become increasingly affluent. But despite many problems, by 2020 14th and U had reclaimed its position as D.C.’s emblematic urban neighborhood, and perhaps even the heart of Washington, D.C.

But then Covid hit. Not much later, the insurrection of January 6th, 2021 rocked Washington back on its heels. I spent the better part of six months — from November of 2020 to late May 2021 — wandering the neighborhood, camera in hand, capturing what I could of the mood and spirit of the place. A year later, I published Pictures of U: Six Months in an Historic D.C. Neighborhood.

Below is a sample gallery with 39 images from the book. You can purchase the book for $50.00, postage included, by clicking the button below.