In addition, of number of periodical resources were used, including several from The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

These writings and scholarly commentaries generally support the themes of a closely-knit, well structured, affluent, and socially cohesive community around U Street, LeDroit Park, and Howard University, thriving in the face of segregation imposed by the dominant white society.

We have also drawn upon important published scholarly work on the history of Washington and of the African American community in Washington, including:

• The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation's Capital by Constance McLaughlin Green
• Washington in the New Era, 1870-1970 by Letitia W. Brown and Elise M. Lewis
• "The Negro in Washington" in Washington, Capital and City by Sterling Brown
• Urban Odyssey: A Multicultural History of Washington, D.C. by Francine Cary
• City of Magnificent Intentions by Keith Melder et al,
• The Guide to Black Washington. by Sandra Fitzpatrick and Maria R. Goodwin,
• A Guide to the Historical Resources of Shaw, by Kathryn Schneider Smith and Marya McQuirter
• "Shaw: Heart of Black Washington" in Washington at Home: An Illustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation's Capital by Marcia Greenlee

The project's interpretive approach has relied on analysis and commentary of experienced urban historians such as:

• Professor James Horton — George Washington University
• Professor Edward C. Smith — American University
• Kathryn S. Smith, Executive director, DC Heritage Tourism Coalition, past President of the Washington Historical Society
• John Edward Hasse, Ellington biographer and curator at the Smithsonian Institution
• Mark Tucker, music historian from the College of William and Mary.

Our creative approach matched the extensive photographic records of the U Street community, important events, and prominent personalities, as well as social life, with on-camera interviews with historians and on-camera recollections of community elders such as:

• Billy Taylor — locally raised jazz composer and pianist
• Alice Spraggins — daughter of Henry Grant, Ellington's classical piano teacher
• Robert H. McNeill— photographer
• Nora Drew Gregory — sister of Dr. Charles Drew
• Dennette Harrod — long-time resident and music buff
• Thelma Baltimore — senior resident and graduate of Dunbar High School
• Charles + Virginia Williams — graduates of Ellington's alma mater Armstrong HS
• Dr. Stanley Nelson — graduate of Dunbar High School and Howard University.

For the modern history and revitalization of the U Street/Shaw area, we relied upon oral histories and interviews with:

• Virginia Ali — long-time proprietor of Ben's Chili Bowl
• Paul Devrouax — architect
• The Rev. Jim Dickerson, founder of MANNA, a community development corporation
• Davey Yarborough — Instrumental Music Director of the Ellington School for the Arts
• Shannon Browne — senior student at the Ellington School. drummer in school band
• Ernest Drew Jarvis and Jair Lynch — local developers
• Oliver Cromwell — D.C. city official
• Kevin Bryant — president of the Whitelaw Hotel tenant association.

In addition, the production team gathered important information through interviews with:

• Al Afshir — local businessman
• Nizam Ali — local businessman
• Dennis Askey — Ellington devotee, collector
• Ruth Ellington Boatwright — sister of Duke Ellington
• Howard Bonds — senior resident
• Florence Brown — senior resident
• Charles Cassell, Carlin Jazz Society, son of Howard University architect, Albert Cassell
• Wallace "Smoke" Conway — former resident
• Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke — former President of Miner Teachers College
• Alyce Ellis Dickson — senior resident
• Norris Dodson — local businessman
• Grace Ridgeley Drew — senior resident
• Tex Gathings — Ellington devotee, collector
• Dr. Luvinia George — music, education scholar
• Harold Grey — senior resident, jazz scholar
• Bill Hassan — neighborhood historian
• Clyde Howard — senior resident, Masonic Lodge leader
• Theodore Hudson — former Howard professor, Ellington devotee
• Reuben Jackson — Ellington archivist
• Pauline Jones — senior resident
• Annie Kuebler — Ellington archivist
• Derek Kowalazyk — local businessman
• Dr. William Lofton — physician, senior resident
• Jimmy Long — senior resident
• Stanley Mayes — local businessman
• Barbara Matusow — journalist, DC history researcher
• Doris McGinty — music historian
• Dr. Hassan Minor — Howard University executive
• Albert Murray — Ellington, jazz scholar
• Dominic Moulden — Executive Director, Manna
• Freeman Murray — senior resident
• Bebe Drew Price — senior resident
• Charlotte Price — former Washingtonian
• Hugh Price — President of Urban League, former resident
• Adelaide Robinson — senior resident
• George Scurlock — photographer, businessman
• John Snipes — local businessman
• Dr. Ted Shell — Ellington devotee, senior resident
• Edith Smith — senior resident
• Anna Louise Tatum — senior resident
• Frank Turner — former resident
• Barry Ulanov — Ellington, jazz scholar
• Walter Washington — former Washington mayor
• Henry Whitehead — social historian and longtime resident
• Norman Wood — fourth generation resident, local businessman

The themes of this documentary have lent themselves readily to extensive use of period photographs and of available films from the first four decades of the 20th Century. The research team led by Associate Producer Teresa Gionis put great stress on doing extensive research of major photographic archives in the Washington area such as:

• Duke Ellington Collection, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History
• The Gelman Library, George Washington University
• The Historical Society of Washington, DC
• Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University
• The Library of Congress
• The D.C. Public Library
• National Archives and Records Administration
• The Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives
• Scurlock Studio Collection, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History
• The Washington Post

New York area repositories were researched as well:

• Frank Driggs Collection
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library

The project has also drawn upon several local and personal photographic collections, including:

• Manna
• Robert H. McNeill Collection
• Alice Spraggins Collection
• The Henry P. Whitehead Collection
• Charles and Virginia Williams

We have drawn upon important published scholarly work on the history of Washington and of the African American community in Washington, including Constance McLaughlin Green, Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation's Capital; Sterling Brown, "The Negro in Washington"; Francine Cary, Urban Odyssey: A Multicultural History of Washington, D.C.; Keith Melder et al, City of Magnificent Intentions; Letitia W. Brown and Elise M. Lewis, Washington in the New Era, 1870-1970; and Sandra Fitzpatrick and Maria R. Goodwin, The Guide to Black Washington. Of considerable assistance as well has been A Guide to the Historical Resources of Shaw, by Kathryn Schneider Smith and Marya Mcquirter.

For written sources on the forces that shaped Duke Ellington, the documentary has drawn primarily on Ellington's autobiography, Music Is My Mistress; Mark Tucker, Ellington: The Early Years and The Ellington Reader; John Edward Hasse, Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington; and Barry Ulanov, Duke Ellington and Stuart Nicholson, Reminiscing in Tempo. These writings and scholarly commentaries generally support the themes of a closely-knit, well structured, affluent, and socially cohesive community around U Street, LeDroit Park, and Howard University, thriving in the face of segregation imposed by the dominant white society.