On Friday, Nov. 18, my IB Language and Literature 12 class took a field trip to Washington D.C. to learn about the history of jazz and the African-American community in D.C.

Our trip started approximately at 9:00 am in the lobby of Annandale High School, for this trip we had a little package of information about this neighborhood. I read it to have a better perspective of the musicians and the important people that lived there. Mrs. Chekin, Ms. Holmes and Mr. Liacopoulos were our drivers and chaperones. On the way to Washington D.C., my friends and I told stories about our experiences with skateboards and other vehicles.  That’s how we made the time pass until we reached D.C. Finally when we arrived at the Shaw District, a giant statue of Duke Ellington stood waiting for us.

Our tour started in front of the large, old Howard Theatre.  We had a tour guide named Garrett who knew the history of D.C. really well.  We learned that Shaw was named after the Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War. From this moment I realized the enormous history of this place, not only for jazz history but for American history too.  One of the first things that I noticed in the Shaw district was the art. Wherever I looked on the streets, I found art. The architecture and the murals formed a great and unique combination of forms and colors. This place has a combination of styles from the past to the present.

From Howard museum we continued our tour with the “Right Proper Brewing Company Shaw Brewpub and Kitchen.”  This restaurant used to be a jazz club and still has a 1920s wall. The interesting thing about this wall is that an artist painted an abstract-styled mural with the theme of jazz music on it. If one has a good appreciation of jazz, famous bands and musicians can be located, each with their corresponding instruments.

After this mural we went to the intersection in front of the restaurant “Dragon Express.” We saw a great orange sports car (Shaw is now a wealthy neighborhood) and learned about the “Red Summer”. The “Red Summer” was a series of violent acts against the African-American community in Washington in the 1920s. The tour guide told us that at the time of the attacks a group of African American veterans and soldiers put on their uniforms and prevented the attacks from reaching their community. For me this story was great proof of the courage of the African-American people at that time.  It was a reminder that this country must always fight for equality no matter what your race or skin color is.

Then we went to see the Civil War Memorial with thousands of names of the African American soldiers who fought in the battlefield. It is shocking how many people gave their lives to consolidate the freedom and equality of rights in this nation.

One of the places that most attracted attention was the jazz club, “Bohemian Cavern.” It had a great layout of piano keys on the facade. This reminded me a lot of the use of this instrument in this musical genre. The great thing about this old club was that it had a real cavern in the basement. It was used by the “bootleggers” during Prohibition. The only sad thing is that it was closed recently due to problems with rent. I think these kinds of historical places should be preserved like museums.

In addition to realizing the great historical weight of the different places we saw, I realized that the community of Shaw had suffered a lot from discrimination and racism. Over time this community had recovered and was now committed to preserving African American culture and history in Washington D.C. We saw that in the huge amount of murals along our walk.

Finally our little tour through the Shaw community ended up near where we started—at the restaurant with the 1920s mural and with a great meal. We decided to have lunch in the “Right Proper Brewing Company Shaw Brewpub and Kitchen.”

Without doubt, this field trip was a great way for our IB Language and Literature class to learn about the jazz era and history of Washington, DC.