January 27, 2006: NORTON TO KICKOFF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2006
NORTON TO KICKOFF BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT
OFFICIAL TRANSFER OF FOUNDER’S HOME TO THE UNITED STATES
Washington, DC—The District’s premier Black History Month event occurs tomorrow when Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is the featured speaker at the official ceremony for the transfer of ownership of the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site to the National Park Service (NPS) on Saturday, January 28, 2006, from 1 to 3 pm at the Shiloh Baptist Church Family Life Center, located at 1500 9th Street, NW. Acquisition of the property at 1538 9th Street, NW by NPS moves the home of the “Father of Black History” another major step closer to becoming a national tourist attraction, as mandated by Norton bills enacted by Congress in 2000 and 2003.
The Norton legislation authorizes the NPS to restore the historic Shaw home where the creator of Negro History Week, the forerunner of Black History Month, lived and did his pioneering work in black history from 1915 to 1950. The Park Service also will rehabilitate three adjoining properties to facilitate tourism and enable the owner, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), which Woodson founded, to occupy part of the premises, as it once did. The bill will leverage the rehabilitation of the other houses on the block that are owned by Shiloh Baptist Church.
Norton said, “The city’s tourist economy and the Shaw neighborhood are the big winners in this law, which authorizes a living historic monument that recognizes the ground-breaking role that Dr. Woodson played in uncovering black history and virtually creating the academic study of African American history. Remarkably, this disciplined intellectual, only the second African American Ph.D. from Harvard, also popularized black history through journals for adults and even for kids that I remember reading in elementary school, where they were distributed. Now school children in D.C. and area residents and visitors to our city from throughout the world will be able to appreciate Dr. Woodson’s work in a new must-see tourist attraction. The Shaw community will get a beautiful, well-attended property and an entire rejuvenated block to replace the problems and waste of dilapidated properties.”
Norton’s bill, the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2003 authorizes the NPS to “preserve, protect and interpret the home for the benefit, education and inspiration of present and future generations.” The Woodson home has been boarded up and deteriorated for many years. ASALH members, including Norton’s seventh grade teacher at Banneker Junior High School, William Simon, first brought the property to the Congresswoman’s attention.
Congress passed a required threshold Norton bill in 2000, which began the process by requiring a study to determine whether the Woodson home should be declared a national historic site within the jurisdiction of the NPS. A Park Service study determined that the property qualified for designation as a unit of the park system once the title from its current owner, the ASALH, is transferred. This designation is much sought after but is granted only to rare properties of national significance including Mount Vernon and the Frederick Douglass Home, usually associated with historic figures.
Dr. Woodson dedicated his life to original scholarship and to the education of the public about the contributions of black Americans to the nation’s history and culture. “Now a priceless American treasure will be saved and preserved, the nation’s pride and purpose in celebrating Black History Month will be better understood, and the celebration and the city no longer will be marred by the poor condition of the home of a great scholar,” Norton said.
Shiloh Baptist Church leaders and officials from ASALH will participate in tomorrow’s ceremony which is open to the public.