The story
DC Funk Parade in Washington
The DC Funk Parade is an annual celebration of Washington's U Street Corridor, produced by the nonprofit MusicianShip since 2013, centered on the neighborhood historically known as Black Broadway for its role as a hub of Black music and culture. The event features a parade and festival showcasing go-go, soul, and funk music honoring the corridor's musical lineage tied to figures such as Duke Ellington, Chuck Brown, Pearl Bailey, and Billie Holiday.
U Street in Washington earned the nickname Black Broadway during the first half of the twentieth century, when the corridor supported a dense concentration of jazz clubs, theaters, and Black-owned businesses at a time when segregation shut Black Washingtonians out of much of the rest of the city's cultural life.