Howard Theatre

The Howard Theater opened its doors in the early fall of 1910 in a primarily African-American area of Washington, near Howard University. During the mid 1920's, it was sold to Abe Lichtman, who owned other theaters that catered to the African American community. The Howard Theatre was ranked as the "largest colored theater in the World." In the early years, the Howard Theater featured live theater, musicals, and local talent shows.

During the 1960's due to desegregation and the 1968 riots, the Howard's attendance began to decline, and the neighborhood around the theater began to grow more and more undesirable. The theater was shuttered in 1970 and 3 years later, the Howard Theater Foundation was formed and funds were raised to refurbish the badly ageing theater.

For many years the Howard Theater sat vacant. Currently, Howard Theatre Restoration, Inc is raising funds to renovate the structure.

Please visit for more information.




The students of A.B.L.E. were asked: How would you revitalize the Howard Theater?

I Don't Mind You Giving Me 5 Million Dollars!

I would create it into a Performance Arts after school program for students and adults. I would have different types of classes and programs students could participate in. Inside will be an auditorium for all performances that will be shown year-round, as well as, a dance and recording studio. Kids will have a choice of taking dance classes and maybe even singing their hearts out. In these classes we would have many different genres to choose from, because we all know that everyone has their own unique and creative style and we understand that everyone likes to express themselves differently. The kids will be taught writing composition and in dance they will learn hip hop, ballet, tap, tango, and maybe even some ballroom dancing.

A.B.L.E. Vision

Adolescents Building Literacy through Expression-A.B.L.E. is designed to enrich and enhance the visual, reading, writing, mathematical, scientific, and historical literacy of students ages 10-20. We aim to achieve this goal by engaging middle and high school students in a wide-range of learning activities. All of our programs encourage students to reflect, respond, and resolve questions that shape their learning experiences inside and outside of school.

Our out-of -school and afterschool programs currently include the following projects:

* Algebra Project/Algebra in Middle School
This program allows students work 90 four days a weeks to build their core math skills.

* Literacy Through Photography
This project encourages adolescents to use photography to build visual literacy skills while exploring issues relating to
identity and society.

* Lost in the City
This program uses fun, multimedia activities and a spirit of inquiry to sharpen students' love of the written word.

* Love Supreme: Adolescent Health and Identity Development
This program was created to provide a safe space for
adolescent girls to discuss and explore questions related to physical, emotional, and cultural development.

* ABLE Visions: Adolescents on Film, Adolescents in Society
This is a weekly film series where students focus on themes
represented in media regarding global identity, self-image, community involvement, health, environment, and various areas
of discussion.

This blog site is dedicated to those students that work so hard on projects and for them to share it with the world.
Enjoy the site and please do leave motivational comments only.

Our Community

Community is defined as a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

The students of A.B.L.E. were instructed to capture their community....home and school community and here are some of their photos.....



















What does community mean to you?
"Community means unity". ~ Robin S.~