Union Market, previously Florida Market, has been supplying food products to DC residents since 1931. From the 1970s to the 1990s, a majority of the market was run by Asian immigrants who also started Asian food and import businesses, such as tofu…

The Chinese Lantern restaurant was opened near Union Station in 1928 by Sam J. Chan. Originally located at 7 F Street, the restaurant moved across F Street to 14 F Street NW around 1946. During the mid-1900s, the Chinese Lantern was often frequented…

In the 1960s, businesses and shops catering to Hispanic and immigrant customers developed alongside the Latino presence in Washington, building in the former streetcar suburb and creating new cultural spaces. In 1962 DC’s first bodega, Casa Dilone,…

In 1895, Michael Holzbeierlein (1860-1939) opened his bakery at the rear of his house at 1849 7th Street, after having worked for several years as a foreman for the Charles Schneider Baking Company at 5th and I Streets downtown. After…

When entrepreneur and former law student Geneva Valentine (1901-1971) opened Equitable Realty Co. on U Street in the early 1930s, she immediately went to work on "breaking" all-white blocks in Park View, where racially restrictive covenants barred…

Arthur Ashe, who wrote this passage, was among the many luminaries who headed to this area—a center for black business, activism and entertainment since the turn of the 20th century—when he came to town for tennis tournaments in the early 1960s. U…

In early 1950, Mary Church Terrell and other activists attempted to eat at Thompson’s Restaurant, a downtown cafeteria and one of many restaurants and eateries with a whites-only policy. The group was deliberately testing the validity of…

In 1946, thirteen years after The Green Pastures played to a whites-only audience at the National Theatre, segregation was still the norm. But when a New York play starring Ingrid Bergman was booked at the Lisner Auditorium and Bergman and the…

John Anderson Lankford (1874-1946) broke barriers when he put his stamp on Washington’s built environment begining in the early 20th century. At the same time, he promoted racial progress through various efforts including founding the Washington, DC…

In 1913 laborer and entrepreneur John Whitelaw Lewis founded the Industrial Savings Bank at 11th and U streets NW, opening up financial opportunities for African Americans.  When it opened, Industrial Bank (designed by Black architect Isaah T.…