Norton's Black History Month Celebration at Bohemian Caverns to Highlight Jazz, The Howard Theatre

Norton's Black History Month Celebration at Bohemian Caverns to Highlight Jazz, The Howard Theatre,

and Historic U Street

Washington, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is inviting District residents to celebrate "Black History Month: The D.C. Way with Music", Tuesday, Feb. 23, 6-7:30 p.m., at Bohemian Caverns, located 11th and U Street, NW, where she will celebrate Historic U Street and the 100th anniversary of the historic Howard Theatre with entertainment by D.C.'s own Grammy-nominated jazz artist Ski Johnson, a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts. The District's Historic U Street and The Howard are among the great landmarks of American jazz. "Black History Month should mean something more than a dull, obligatory commemoration once a year," Norton said. "The way to commemorate the African American experience in this city is to celebrate it. What better way to celebrate Black History Month in D.C. than to go to one of the historic cradles of jazz on one of the nation's historic jazz boulevards; listen to some music; and celebrate The Howard Theater, where the nation's jazz greats appeared."

Duke Ellington and his band played The Howard in 1931, an amateur contest there in the 1930s helped launch the careers of Billy Eckstine and Ella Fitzgerald, and Pearl Bailey debuted there in the 1940s. Ellington, a native Washingtonian, also helped establish the U Street corridor as a major venue for African American entertainers. Norton, who sponsored the bill for the memorial for African Americans in the Civil War, recently secured $200,000 for repairs for the Memorial at 10th and U Street.