Why read Chocolate City?

Book cover of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital

Book description

Monumental in scope and vividly detailed, Chocolate City tells the tumultuous, four-century story of race and democracy in our nation's capital. Emblematic of the ongoing tensions between America's expansive democratic promises and its enduring racial realities, Washington often has served as a national battleground for contentious issues, including slavery, segregation,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Chocolate City as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Tanya Maria Golash-Boza

Author

Chocolate City covers the last few centuries of history in DC.

This tome provides an in-depth overview of the history of race in Washington, DC from its founding to the present. It traces the history of race and democracy in the nation’s capital – from its days as a trading post for enslaved persons to its emergence as a booming metropolis.

By putting racial dynamics, tensions, and demographics at the center of the narrative, the authors develop a cohesive narrative that helps us to understand the multiple and consistent ways that Black DC residents have been disenfranchised and dispossessed.

From Tanya's list on how DC became the most gentrified city in the country.