Fed Up with Delay, Norton Reads Letter to President Obama on Snail’s Pace of NPS Work on Carter G. Woodson Historic Site
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a 137th birthday celebration for the late, noted historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) read a letter she sent today to President Barack Obama, calling on him to hold the appropriate officials accountable for developing a strategy and timeline to complete the Carter G. Woodson National Historic Site in the District of Columbia, and that he give the project the high priority it deserves in his fiscal year 2014 National Park Service (NPS) budget. Woodson is one of the nation's most important historians, noted for his study and publication of Black history during a period of time when propaganda asserted that African Americans were inferior and had no substantive history beyond slavery. In 2003, Congress passed Norton's bill, the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site Establishment Act, to make Woodson's former home in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood an NPS site in the National Park System. To date, the project has progressed at what Norton calls a "snail's pace."
"It is nothing short of shocking, tremendously disappointing, and certainly unacceptable that a dozen years after this project was approved by Congress, NPS has not completed the project and cannot so much as offer a strategic plan, estimated timeline, or cost estimate for its completion. Considering that the Carter G. Woodson home site is of such a small scale that, when completed, it will occupy only three D.C. townhouses, it is incomprehensible that it continues to linger, with no sign of movement or NPS interest in its completion," Norton wrote in her letter to the President. "I am calling upon you as chief executive to see to it that the appropriate officials develop a strategy and timeline for completing the Carter G. Woodson project. Further, I request that your fiscal year 2014 NPS designate this project for the high priority it deserves."
The full text of Norton's letter follows.
Dear Mr. President:
I write out of deep concern about the snail's pace of progress and lack of a detailed plan or timeline for completing the Carter G. Woodson historic site project in the District of Columbia. As you know, Dr. Carter G. Woodson is one of the most distinguished American historians and a central figure in the history of African Americans through his own study and publishing of the history of Black people at a time when racist propaganda asserted that Blacks were inferior and had no substantive history beyond slavery. Dr. Woodson's home here also served as the headquarters for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the organization Dr. Woodson founded, and it was there that Dr. Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, which has evolved into Black History Month, commemorated at the White House and throughout the United States annually.
As you may know, in 2003, nearly a dozen years ago, Congress passed my bill, the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site Act, to make the former home of Dr. Woodson, located in the historic Shaw neighborhood of the nation's capital, a National Park Service (NPS) site in the National Park System. Since then, I have been working with NPS to rehabilitate and establish the home as a national tourist site and educational facility honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Woodson.
It took years for NPS to acquire two adjoining properties to accommodate visitors and room to display the educational materials and artifacts from Dr. Woodson's life, but much of this delay was outside of the blame or responsibility of the NPS. Since then, however, very little has been done – and that is the responsibility of the NPS. Concerned that there had been no visible effort to move the project forward in years, or a strategic plan for its completion, I wrote to NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis on October 10, 2012, to request a detailed analysis of the work that needs to be completed and a timeline for completion. I received a reply from NPS Acting Regional Director Lisa Mendelson-Ielmini dated November 21, 2012, stating that NPS "cannot accurately estimate the timeline or total cost for the rehabilitation of the Woodson Home at this point."
It is nothing short of shocking, tremendously disappointing, and certainly unacceptable that a dozen years after this project was approved by Congress, NPS has not completed the project and cannot so much as offer a strategic plan, estimated timeline, or cost estimate for its completion. Considering that the Carter G. Woodson home site is of such a small scale that, when completed, it will occupy only three D.C. townhouses, it is incomprehensible that it continues to linger, with no sign of movement or NPS interest in its completion.
I know that the NPS is chronically underfunded, but it has a budget of $2.2 billion, and has considerable discretion in funding its work. Given the tight funding constraints that every agency is facing now, any project without a detailed strategy for completion will not be taken seriously for funding consideration, and the Carter G. Woodson project could continue to languish for years to come as funding goes elsewhere. Because I have been unable to get the NPS to give sufficient priority to a project of such significance, I am calling upon you as chief executive to see to it that the appropriate officials develop a strategy and timeline for completing the Carter G. Woodson project. Further, I request that your fiscal year 2014 NPS designate this project for the high priority it deserves.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Published: December 19, 2012