Most Washingtonians are accustomed to participating in guided tours only when entertaining out of town guests. We all know we'll have to trek out to the monuments with family and friends at least a few times a year, so being a tourist in our own city voluntarily at other times might not sound terribly appealing. But try not to think of the tours being offered in this coming weekend's WalkingTown DC, a series of 60 free walking tours through the city's neighborhoods by Cultural Tourism DC, as touristy. Instead, consider them an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of a place you probably think you already know.

That's certainly what DCist discovered when we headed out on the Before Harlem, There Was U Street tour this past Saturday. Normally offered by Washington Walks, one of D.C.'s top guided tour agencies, the tour typically kicks off at the 13th St. entrance to the U Street metro station, with a view of neighborhood landmarks like the Lincoln Theater and Ben's Chili Bowl. But this day the Washington Walks guides had to improvise, since a large university group had been told to meet at the 10th Street entrance. Phyllis Fleming, a veteran guide as well as a freelance musician and music teacher, ably began the tour where it usually ends: at the African American Civil War Memorial.

Perhaps because it's situated so far away from the National Mall, or because of its understated design, or probably just because it's located at the top of a metro station I've hurried in and out of daily for years, I had never taken a really close look at this memorial, nor had I visited the adjacent African American Civil War Museum. The Wall of Honor at the memorial lists the names of 209,145 United States Colored Troops (USCT) who served in the Civil War. When you learn that for every star next to a name, there was more than one soldier with that name who served the Union, and take a good look at just how many names are listed there, you start to get a sneaking suspicion there is much about the Civil War you never learned in school.

This suspicion comes to a thundering assurance when you're led inside the museum and sat down to listen to a brief lecture on Civil War history by Harry Jones, the African American Civil War Museum's assistant director. Jones debunks deeply held myths and misinterpretations with such a high-volume passion that when you head back out to the street, you begin to wonder how you could have ever walked passed this door without taking note of his commanding voice before. This is a man who can quote from the personal letters of Ulysses S. Grant. Don't even get him started about the inaccuracies in the movie Glory.

But this tour is also about the history of U Street, known to us all as "Black Broadway", and for those of us too young to really understand what that name meant, spending an hour getting an education is well worth our while. You'll get a great overview of what the neighborhood meant to African Americans, not just in D.C. but all over the country, during segregation. Of course you'll hear all about the signaficance of the Howard and Lincoln Theatres, the houses on 13th St. where Duke Ellington lived, and Ben's Chili Bowl. But you'll also get a chance to look inside the first YMCA to ever serve a black community in the United States, now the Thurgood Marshall Center, and the Whitelaw Hotel, the only hotel in D.C. that allowed African Americans to stay there. It's a 2-hour journey through the history of a neighborhood that needs to be remembered, now more than ever.

Before Harlem, There Was U Street is being offered free this Saturday 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. through WalkingTown DC. Meet outside U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo Metro station (13th St. exit)

Photo by Sommer Mathis