Norton to Give Keynote Address at ASALH’s Centennial Founders’ Day Celebration, Today
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will give the keynote address at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History's (ASALH) Centennial Founders' Day, today, Wednesday, September 9, 2015, beginning at 4:00 p.m., at Shiloh Baptist Church (1510 9th St. NW). The event is cosponsored by the National Park Service (NPS) and is open to the public. One of Norton's oldest congressional priorities has been the restoration of the home of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black history and the founder of ASALH. Norton's 2003 bill got Congress to designate Dr. Woodson's home, located in Shaw, as a historic NPS site. After trying for years to get funding to rehabilitate the Carter G. Woodson National Historic Site, Norton wrote to President Obama to ask him to include $3.2 million in his fiscal year 2014 budget. After the President included the money, Norton got House and Senate appropriators to include the funding. Earlier this year, NPS awarded a contract to Perini Management Services to begin the restoration project.
"I am honored to join ASALH to mark an incredible 100 years of making African American history and life a major part of American life today," Norton said. "ASALH relentlessly carried on the historic legacy of Dr. Carter G. Woodson in encouraging the study and appreciation of African American history and culture. We will not rest until his home becomes a living memorial to his life's work in legitimizing the study of African American history in this country."