Photo by tedeytan
Composites of the intersection of Florida and 9th Streets, taken 1968, the day Martin Luther King was assassinated, and today (2014) following resurgence of this part of Washington, DC, USA. What was formerly Scurlock Studios is now Nellie’s Sports Bar, part of the vibrant lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in our nation’s capital.
1968 photo – (licensed CC BY-NC 2.0 – full attribution below) – original is posted on Flickr at : www.flickr.com/photos/washington_area_spark/15391429616
More info about the original photo:
A crowd mills in and around Sabin’s Records at 9th & U Streets NW, Washington, D.C. after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.
Note plywood being handled on the 9th Street side of the building.
This viewpoint is from the offices of Scurlock Studios at 900 U Street looking toward the northwest corner where U Street intersects 9th Street NW. At this intersection Florida Avenue runs to the East and U Street runs to the West while 9th Street runs north and south.
Part of the WUST radio station can be seen on the building one block north on 9th Street at V Street NW.
The city exploded in anger at the news and experienced among the greatest property damage of the more than 110 cities that erupted April 4-7, 1968 and set a then U.S. record for mass arrests when more than 6,100 were detained.
Twelve died, mostly due to becoming entrapped in burning buildings and over 1,100 were injured. Property damage was extensive as corridors and 14th Street NW, 7th Street NW, U Street NW, H Street NE and Nichols Ave SE (later Martin Luther King Jr. Ave) were set afire. 1,200 buildings were burned.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk4zGPDw
Photograph by George Scurlock, Scurlock Studio. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History: Archives Center.
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