How the Icon of Black Political Power Ended Up With the Most Displacement in the U.S.

Dominic Moulden landed in the historic Shaw neighborhood on his very first day in Washington. He can readily recall the exact date: June 1, 1986. On that day, he discovered a city, and a neighborhood, that just felt easy compared with his native Baltimore. This was, after all, the neighborhood that was home to famed, historically Black Howard University — “The Mecca.” It was the neighborhood that nurtured a litany of Black excellence, from Duke Ellington to Langston Hughes to Carter G. Woodson, the “Father of Black History.” To him, it was a neighborhood that felt like home, a neighborhood where everyone felt like family.

Nearly 36 years later, Moulden still remembers what it felt like to be there, taking in the percussive funk of go-go music, the people filtering in and out of chicken joints and barber shops, the young professionals flocking there to party after work, the Black businesses making a comeback after the ’68 riots.

For Moulden, the history and the sense of community was palpable.