What was built
- Established or development period
- 1862–1919
- Peak period
- 1900s–1940s
- Who built the community
- A large free-born and post-emancipation Black population, federal clerks, professionals, and Howard University faculty and graduates.
- Black population
- Roughly 110,000 Black residents, about a quarter of the city.
- Businesses
- Black-owned businesses along U Street, Seventh Street and Georgia Avenue.
- Financial institutions
- Not yet documented
- Churches
- Not yet documented
- Schools
- Howard University; M Street / Dunbar High School.
- Hospitals
- Not yet documented
- Newspapers
- The Washington Bee.
- Entertainment & cultural institutions
- The Howard Theatre and the emerging Black Broadway corridor.
- Other community institutions
- Not yet documented
- Black land & property ownership
- Substantial Black home ownership, especially in LeDroit Park and Shaw.
- Economic significance
- The largest Black urban population in the country at the time and a center of Black federal employment and higher education.
What happened
- What happened?
- From July 19 to 24, 1919, white servicemen and civilians attacked Black residents across the city. Black Washingtonians, many of them returning veterans, organized armed defense, and the violence ended only after days of fighting and rain.
- Trigger or precipitating event
- Newspaper reports of an alleged assault involving a white woman and the rumor-driven mobilization of white servicemen.
- Underlying historical context
- Postwar demobilization, federal workforce resegregation under Wilson, and housing and job competition during the Red Summer.
- Method of destruction / displacement
- Mob Violence
- Date or period of destruction
- July 19–24, 1919
- Confirmed / documented deaths
- At least 15 deaths, both Black and white.
- Estimated deaths
- Some accounts cite higher totals. SOURCES DIFFER.
- People displaced
- Not yet documented
- Homes destroyed
- Not yet documented
- Businesses destroyed
- Not yet documented
- Acres or property lost
- Not yet documented
Afterward
- What happened to the land?
- Black neighborhoods remained intact; U Street's commercial peak followed in the 1920s–1940s.
- Was compensation paid?
- None.
- Was the community rebuilt?
- Not applicable, property destruction was limited relative to loss of life and safety.
- What was rebuilt?
- Not yet documented
- Destroyed or displaced again?
- Yes
- Second displacement date
- 1950s–1970s and 1990s–2010s
- Second displacement cause
- Southwest Washington urban renewal and later disinvestment following the 1968 unrest, then large-scale gentrification and displacement along U Street and Shaw.
- What exists there today?
- The U Street corridor, Howard University, the African American Civil War Memorial and a substantially changed residential population.
- Descendant, reparation & restoration efforts
- Public-history markers, the Historical Society of Washington's Red Summer programming and neighborhood preservation efforts.
- Historical significance
- A Red Summer episode notable for organized Black armed self-defense in the nation's capital.
Destroyed / displaced again
This community experienced a second documented episode of destruction or displacement: Southwest Washington urban renewal and later disinvestment following the 1968 unrest, then large-scale gentrification and displacement along U Street and Shaw. (1950s–1970s and 1990s–2010s).
Sources
- Book or scholarly workFind
Constance McLaughlin Green, The Secret City (Princeton University Press, 1967)
- Source lookupFind
Cameron McWhirter, Red Summer (Henry Holt, 2011)
- Source lookupFind
Historical Society of Washington, D.C. collections
- Primary recordFind
Library of Congress, NAACP records
"Find" opens a focused search for legacy references that do not have a stable link; "Open" goes directly to the source.
Last verified: 2026-09-20. This is a living historical collection. Additional communities and documentation will be added as research and verification continue.