This week’s photograph is a composite of one I took at the People’s March for Justice, Equity and Peace, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Washington, DC.
It’s taken in front of Ben’s Chili Bowl (@BensChiliBowl) which has special significance to communities here:
DC leaders of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and Howard University graduates, whose office was across the street from Ben’s Chili Bowl, were able to convince the city and the National Guard to allow Ben’s to stay open even though the federal government imposed a curfew on the city due to the rebellion. SNCC organizers and city officials trying to end the violence needed a place to meet and eat.
The photo it’s composited with comes from the Library of Congress, with no known copyright restrictions, and probably taken at a time when U Street was struggling to survive.
Additional photos from the march are below, and above them, one more composite I did a few years ago from a scene just a few blocks away from Ben’s.
