Mary Mcleod Bethune Council House | Washington D.C.

Mary McLeod Bethune achieved her greatest national and international recognition at this Washington, DC townhouse, which is now a National Historic Site operated by the U.S. Park Service. The house was not only her last home in Washington, DC, but also served as the first headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). From here, Bethune and the Council spearheaded strategies and developed programs that advanced the interests of African American women and the Black community.

Today, the site houses the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Museum and the National Archives for Black Women’s History. The Archives, which houses the largest manuscript collection of materials pertaining to black women and their organizations, contains extensive correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia relating to Mary McLeod Bethune. Both the museum and archives actively collect artifacts, clothing, artwork, and other materials which document the history of black women and the black community.

Find out more about Maryland’s black heritage sites and attractions in the Maryland African American Heritage Guide.

If You Go………

Stop by Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill to see the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Statue, the first ever commissioned to honor an African-American woman.

Who Was Mary McLeod Bethune?

Mary McLeod Bethune, born on July 10, 1875,  was the 15th of 17 children of former slaves.  Despite growing up amidst poverty and oppression of the Reconstruction South, she took an early interest in her own education.  With the help of benefactors, Bethune attended college hoping to become a missionary in Africa. When that did not materialize, she founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1904. From six students it grew and merged with an Cookman Institute for black boys and eventually became known as Bethune-Cookman College. Its quality far surpassed the standards of education for black students at the time, rivaling those of many white schools. Bethune worked tirelessly to ensure funding for the school, and used it as a showcase for tourists and donors, to exhibit what educated black people could do. She was president of the college from 1923 to 1942 and 1946 to 1947, one of the few women in the world who served as a college president at that time. In 2007, the school became Bethune-Cookman University. Mary McLeod Bethune also served as an advisor on African American affairs to four presidents. She was appointed Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration by President Roosevelt. She was the first African American woman to hold so high an office in the federal government.

What is the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)?

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a council of national African American women’s organizations and community-based sections. Founded in 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune, the NCNW mission is to lead, develop, and advocate for women of African descent as they support their families and communities. (from www.ncnw.org). Expressing a desire to see black women united to “meet the unfolding of larger things,” the organization decided on the following objectives: to promote unity of action among women’s organizations in matters affecting the educational, cultural, economic, political and social life in America; to build a fellowship of women devoted to developing friendly relations among all people in the world; to collect and preserve information about and affecting women; and to work for the complete elimination of any and all forms of discrimination and segregation based on race, religion, color, national origin and sex.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House
1318 Vermont Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005-3607
Phone (Visitor Information): (202) 673-2402
Official Website
Map & Driving Directions

Capital Jazz Festival | Washington D.C.

Each year in early June (since 1993), tens of thousands of music lovers from throughout the country flock to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. to enjoy hot fun and cool jazz of the Capital Jazz Fest, once referred to by guitarist Chuck Loeb as the “Woodstock of jazz festivals .This multi-day, multi-stage outdoor music festival, which attracts music lovers from 44 states, has continually showcased the biggest names in contemporary jazz. Past performers include Herbie Hancock, Kenny G, Grover Washington, Jr., Anita Baker, Ray Charles, Ramsey Lewis, Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson,George Benson, Eric Benet, Jeffrey Osborne, The Brand New Heavies and countless others. In-between musical sets, attendees can enjoy fine art and crafts at the Festival Marketplace, culinary treats at the food court, plus artist workshops and meet & greets.

Held the weekend of June 5-7, 2009 in the wooded setting of Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbus, Maryland, this year’s festival artist lineup includes such superstars as Chaka Khan, George Duke, Al Jarreau, Norman Brown, Fourplay, Lalah Hathaway, Kirk Whalum, Regina Belle, Roy Ayer,s Angie Stone, Gary Taylor, En Vogue, Will Downing, Marion Meadows, Raheem DeVaughn, Pieces of a Dream with special guest Phil Perry,  Peabo Bryson, and many more.

For more information on schedules artists, venues and related festival events, please visit the festival’s official website.

Ellington School for the Arts | Washington, D.C.

Named for the American jazz bandleader and composer Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899–1974), the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Arts, located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C, was founded in 1974 and is the only DC public high school that provides professional arts training and college preparation to talented DC public school students. Each student takes a full academic course-load and, additionally, majors in one of eight arts disciplines: dance, literary media, museum studies, instrumental music, vocal music, theater, and visual arts.

Other Facts:

• The school’s curriculum requires students earn 34% more credits than those at other D. C. public high schools.
• Students must maintain a minimum grade point average in both academics and the arts to be permitted to perform.
• The school has a 99% on-time graduation rate.
• Famous alumni include Dave Chappelle (comedian), Johnny Gill (R&B singer and member of New Edition), Meshell Ndegeocello (singer), and Wallace Roney (jazz trumpeter).

Duke Ellington School of the Arts
Address: 3500 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Phone: (202) 282-0123
Official Website
Map & Driving Directions

Duke Ellington’s Washington

The companion website of the one-hour PBS documentary, Duke Ellington’s Washington, about the African-American community in Washington D.C. during the early 20th century which nurtured the emergence of a surprising array of talented African-American lawyers, doctors, businessmen, and cultural figures, epitomized by Duke Ellington. The program is a dynamic blend of the music and pictures that illuminate both young Ellington and the hometown that nurtured him, and the intimate oral histories of people who knew Duke as a boy and the community that was home to so many talented African Americans. The program takes an unconventional approach by combining the celebrated past of Washington’s black community with its modern revival of that heritage along with another of Ellington’s legacies, the Ellington School for the Arts which is producing a new stream of talented DC musicians, actors, dancers, and artists of all kinds.

In the era before the Harlem Renaissance, the Washington black community was the center of black culture in America — a jazz mecca for such greats as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Pearl Bailey, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. In that era, Washington’s black community was the largest in America. Unlike Harlem, which was largely white-owned, U Street — dubbed “the black Broadway” by Washingtonian Pearl Bailey — was black-owned, black-run and black-built. After the devastation of the 1968 riots, the old U Street sank into urban ruin. But the area is reviving, its comeback signaled by the restoration of historic buildings, rehabilitated rowhouses and new jazz clubs.

Duke Ellington Mural | Washington D.C.

The Duke Ellington Mural is located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington D.C., within the Mount Vernon Square historic district, an area that has been a hub of African-American cultural life since the late 19th century and the neighborhood that shaped and nurtured him. The Duke grew up just around the corner on Bates Street and began his career in the music halls and clubs that flourished along nearby 14th Street in the 1910s.

The painting, completed in 1997 by muralist G. Byron Peck, is based on a photo of Ellington on the frontispiece of his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress. It is attached to the side wall of Mood Indigo, the “nostalgia” shop adjacent to the Green Line metro station at 13th and U Streets, N.W.

Duke Ellington Mural
Address: 1214 U Street North West, Washington, DC 20009
Phone: N/A
Official Website: N/A
Map & Driving Directions

Next Page »