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Wilson Center to Host Book Launch for <i>Washington's U Street</i>

A new book by Blair Ruble, Washington's U Street: A Biography, probes the history of Washington's U Street neighborhood, a hub of African American culture for more than a century. Come celebrate the first comprehensive book on this robustly diverse neighborhood at a book launch on November 2 at the Wilson Center, featuring a lively discussion and live jazz.

A new book by the Wilson Center's Blair Ruble takes readers on a historical journey of the culturally important U Street neighborhood. Washington's U Street: A Biography, traces the U Street corridor from its Civil War-era origins to its recent gentrification. Today, the U Street neighborhood remains a critical zone of contact between black and white America in a city otherwise largely segregated by race and class.

The Woodrow Wilson Center will host a book launch for Washington's U Street on Tuesday, November 2 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. that will feature live jazz performed by the Greg Gaskins Trio and a discussion with Ruble. Georgetown Professor Maurice Jackson will offer comments and Wilson Center Senior Scholar Philippa Strum will moderate.

"No one, to my knowledge, has assembled a narrative on black Washington that covered such an expanse," wrote Yale University's Jonathan Hollaway upon reading Ruble's book.

Home throughout the years to important scholars, entertainers, and political figures, as well as to historically prominent African American institutions, Washington's U Street neighborhood is central to African American culture. Duke Ellington grew up in the neighborhood; and diplomat Ralph Bunche, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and medical researcher Charles Drew were all members of the community. Howard University and the Howard Theater are both located there as was Griffith Stadium.

Ruble, a jazz aficionado and longtime resident of Washington, D.C., tells the story in an engaging and compelling voice, including vignettes on important characters from each era, starting with Oliver Otis Howard and "Boss" Shepherd and continuing through Kathryn Schneider Smith and Adrian Fenty.

Ruble is director of the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute and of the Comparative Urban Studies Project. Washington's U Street: A Biography is co-published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press.

The Book Launch: November 2 from 4 -6 p.m. at the Wilson Center
If you plan to attend, RSVP to Maria-Stella Gatzoulis

Getting the Book: Washington's U Street: A Biography will be available for purchase at the launch or can be ordered from Johns Hopkins University Press.
Books also will be available in stores by late November.