| The newest museum in Washington, DC, has made it its mission to preserve a key cultural element of the capital city’s shrinking Black community: The Go-Go Museum & Cafe is dedicated to a music genre founded by young Black DC artists in the 1970s and that has, for decades, been the sound of the city’s nightlife. It’s the latest in the #DontMuteDC movement, which has protested displacement of Black residents and erasure of Black culture amid hyperdrive-gentrification. The museum’s opening also marks a bright spot in what has otherwise been a bleak start to 2025 for DC, which is currently fighting efforts from congressional lawmakers to cut more than $1 billion from its local budget. “We thought: We’re gonna put up something that’s a beacon of Black culture in DC that can be celebrated," said Nabeeh “Nabi” Bilal, who helped design the museum. Read more from Brentin Mock today on CityLab: Saving the Signature Sound of Washington, DC — Linda Poon |
