Duke Ellington’s Washington

The companion website of the one-hour PBS documentary, Duke Ellington’s Washington, about the African-American community in Washington D.C. during the early 20th century which nurtured the emergence of a surprising array of talented African-American lawyers, doctors, businessmen, and cultural figures, epitomized by Duke Ellington. The program is a dynamic blend of the music and pictures [...]

Duke Ellington Mural | Washington D.C.

The Duke Ellington Mural is located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington D.C., within the Mount Vernon Square historic district, an area that has been a hub of African-American cultural life since the late 19th century and the neighborhood that shaped and nurtured him. The Duke grew up just around the corner on Bates Street [...]

U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC

It was recently discovered (2005) that slaves made up more than half of the workforce when the U.S. Congress authorized the construction a new national capital building in 1790. Records confirm that slaves did much of the brickmaking, hauling, foundation-digging, masonry, nail-making and carpentry involved in the contruction of the Capitol, the White House, the [...]

U.S. Presidential Inauguration, Washington, DC

          Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the United States, January 20, 2009

Duke Ellington House, New York, NY

The Duke Ellington House, or Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington House, is where Duke Ellington, the famous African American composer and jazz musician, resided from 1939 through 1961. The building and/or Ellington’s apartment, Apartment 4A, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. The six-story, elevator building on the southwest corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and [...]

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