Numerous Ethiopian immigrants experienced block mobility upon their arrival to the United States. Rather than settle for mediocre jobs, some Ethiopians turned to entrepreneurship as a way to improve their socioeconomic status. As a result of their efforts, many Ethiopian businesses opened in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. However, as Elizabeth Chacko and Ivan Cheung discovered in “The Formation of Contemporary Ethnic Enclaves: Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.” (2006), several of these Ethiopian-owned businesses were forced out that area in the late-1990s due to gentrification.[1] Eventually, a group of about twenty Ethiopian-owned businesses amassed along the U Street corridor and the area between 9th Street and 11th Street, which is a historically African American section of Washington, DC and home to Howard University. Despite a proposal by local Ethiopian leaders to have this area designated as “Little Ethiopia,” the African American community advocated against it in order to preserve its own heritage.[2]
(Created by Dino Reschke Using GoogleMaps)
Regardless of the official name of this area, several Ethiopian businesses, including grocery stores, restaurants, and cafes, continue to operate there today.[3]
In addition to the concentration of Ethiopian businesses along the U Street Corridor, two “Little Ethiopias” have developed in Virginia and Maryland. According to Dan Reed in his article “DC’s ‘Little Ethiopia’ has Moved to Silver Spring and Alexandria” (2015), Montgomery County, Maryland has roughly 13,000 Ethiopian residents, which is the largest Ethiopian population in the region, and its “Little Ethiopia” is located in Silver Spring and Takoma Park.[4] Meanwhile, Fairfax County is second and the City of Alexandria is third in terms of Ethiopian population in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Their “Little Ethiopia” is located in Alexandria and “extends west towards the Skyline area of Fairfax County.”[5]
(Created by Dino Reschke Using GoogleMaps)
[1] Elizabeth Chacko and Ivan Cheung, “The Formation of Contemporary Ethnic Enclaves: Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.,” in Race, Ethnicity, and Place in a Changing America, 2nd ed., ed. John W. Frazier, Eugene L. Tettey-Fio, and Norah F. Henry (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006), 137. Chacko is a geography and international affairs professor at George Washington University. She has completed field work in a number of countries, including Ethiopia. Cheung is an adjunct geography professor at George Washington University.
[2] Chacko and Cheung, “The Formation of Contemporary Ethnic Enclaves,” 139-40.
[3] Misty Showalter, “Inside Washington D.C.’s ‘Little Ethiopia,'” CNN, accessed November 30, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/22/little.ethiopia.washington/.
[4] Dan Reed, “DC’s ‘Little Ethiopia’ has Moved to Silver Spring and Alexandria,” Greater Greater Washington, accessed November 30, 2016, http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/27954/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria/.
[5] ibid.
