Shaw is a neighborhood in central Washington, D.C. It is roughly bounded by M Street NW to the south; 16th Street NW to the west; U Street NW and Florida Avenue NW to the north; and 4th Street NW to the east. This area also encompasses several smaller neighborhoods including, Logan Circle, Mount Vernon Square, U Street/Cardozo, and Blagden Alley/Naylor Court.

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.

Shaw is served by the 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 Theater, and the Washington Convention Center.

The U Street Corridor extends along U Street, N.W., and is bounded approximately by 9th Street on the east and by 18th Street and Florida Avenue on the west. This corridor became commercially significant when a streetcar line operated there in the early 20th century. A part of the larger Shaw neighborhood, it has long been a center of Washington's music scene with a variety of clubs including many historic jazz venues. In its cultural heyday it was known as "Black Broadway." Duke Ellington's childhood home was nearby on the 1200 block of T Street.

The U Street Corridor became a blighted area after the 1968 riots. Gentrification began in the mid-1980s, prompted by spillover development from then trendy Adams Morgan and later from Logan Circle. As of 2006, the U Street corridor is known for restaurants, nightlife such as the nightclub Republic Gardens, eclectic stores, and a general hipster atmosphere. Extensive residential condominium developments in this area have also help to bolster the revitalization of this neighborhood.


SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA.ORG (APRIL 2006)