Engine Company No. 4: DC’s First All-Black Firehouse
Gordon Parks photographed Engine Company No. 4 in 1943: men trusted to run into a fire, and made to eat off separate plates.
African American history
Suburban Gardens: DC’s Black Amusement Park in Deanwood
Suburban Gardens opened at 50th and Hayes NE in June 1921, built by a Black-owned company. It was the only major amusement park ever inside the District, born because the region’s white parks barred Black Washingtonians.
Langston Golf Course: D.C.’s Segregated Public Course
Langston Golf Course opened June 11, 1939 as DC’s only public links for Black golfers. The fight for equal access took longer than the build.
The Dunbar Hotel at 15th and U: Black Washington’s Premier Address
The Dunbar Hotel at the corner of 15th and U Streets NW was Washington’s premier Black-owned hotel from 1945 to 1974, where Duke Ellington stayed when he came home to play. Before that it was the Portner Flats, a brewer’s luxury apartment house built in 1902.