Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site

03/24/2023

Happy Birthday Dr. Dorothy Irene Height!

Dr. Dorothy Irene Height's impact on the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW) was second only to Mary McLeod Bethune. She served as the organization’s fourth national president and later its President Emerita for over 50 years (1957 to her death in 2010). In this photograph, Dr. Height (seated fifth from left in a black dress) pauses with other members of the NCNW for a photograph in the parlor at the Council House in the early 1960s.

How do you celebrate someone who has contributed so much to your life and the lives of others?

(NABWH/NPS) Alt-text: Black and white image of a group of women standing and sitting on furniture in a room in front of large windows with drapes, a crystal chandelier, a large portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune hanging on the wall, large flags, a large mirror over top a sealed fireplace, and a menorah on the mantle.

03/23/2023

This , check out this photo of Marian Anderson's Easter Concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Mrs. Bethune was one of the 75,000 in attendance.

(Archives Center, Smithsonian NMAH) Alt-text: Black and white image featuring Marian Anderson standing and performing at a microphone on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of a large crowd of people

03/22/2023

On November 13, 1949, President Harry S. Truman was the guest speaker for the NCNW's International Night. Among those present were United Nations Director of Trusteeship Ralph Bunche, Ambassador Vijaya Pandit of India, Mary Church Terrell, and Judge William H. Hastie.

(NABWH/NPS) Alt-text: Black and white image featuring four people standing and smiling

03/21/2023

It's ! The National Archives for Black Women's History was originally housed on site at the Council House. It was relocated to a state-of-the-art curatorial facility in 2014. Where is the archive located today?

03/17/2023

This , have you read "Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington, D.C.: Activism & Education in Logan Circle"? Authored by Dr. Ida E. Jones, it is one of many excellent books on Mrs. Bethune.

(Public domain) Alt-text: Image of the front cover of the book, "Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington, D.C.: Activism & Education in Logan Circle"

03/16/2023

Prior to moving into the Council House, Mrs. Bethune lived elsewhere in DC. In 1936, she lived at 316 T Street, N.W.

(NPS) Alt-text: Image of facades of two homes

03/16/2023

If you want to understand our nation’s history, explore the vital role women of all cultures have played.

On this National Women’s History Month, we want to shout out each volunteer who supports National Park Service sites that share women’s stories, including: Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, Women's Rights National Historical Park, Boston National Historical Park, and Clara Barton National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service).

Feeling inspired yet? Check out how you, too, can be a part of the history: https://www.nps.gov/getinvolved/volunteer.htm

Biscayne National Park

03/15/2023

Sharing on the second national president of the NCNW, the great Dr. Dorothy Boulding Ferebee.

Dorothy Boulding Ferebee was a physician and public health activist who taught at Howard University’s Medical School for fifty years.

In 1929, Dr. Ferebee founded Southeast Settlement House to offer services for working class African American families in southeast Washington, DC, including childcare and recreational opportunities for youth. The community center helped to inspire the birth of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in 1967.

This portrait began as a black and white photograph, possibly marking her presidency of the National Council of Negro Women. In a process first popularized in the late nineteenth century, color has been applied to an enlargement to create a portrait resembling an oil painting.



🎨: https://s.si.edu/42bMJZw

03/15/2023

Photos from Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture's post

03/15/2023

In 1949, Mrs. Bethune visited the Republic of Haiti. She received the nation's highest award, the Order of Honor and Merit. This was the first time Haiti had given this honor to a woman.

(NABWH/NPS) Alt-text: Black and white image of Mary McLeod Bethune wearing a corsage and her Haitian Award, the Order of Honor and Merit

03/14/2023

Today is National Equal Pay Day!

This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. It originated in 1996 to bring public awareness to the gap between men's and women's wages. The U.S. Census figures show that the average woman who works full time is paid on average just 84 percent of the typical man’s pay.

We must continue to bring awareness and have a dialogue to eliminate any wage gap between men and women or of any other kind.

Click here to view the White House Proclamation: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/03/13/a-proclamation-on-national-equal-pay-day-2023/

(Public domain) Alt-text: Image featuring three African American women of different ages in front of a green back drop made up of text and numbers

03/14/2023

It's ! Mrs. Bethune helped launch an archive devoted to preserving the history of Black women. Maintained at the Council House and accompanying Carriage House, what was that archive called?

03/11/2023

We had a full house!

We want to take a moment to thank everyone who came out for our Women’s History Month Program this afternoon. It was such a wonderful lecture given by Dr. Tara Y. White on the role of African American women in Historic Preservation. Dr. White dropped so many historical nuggets on different organizations, people, and initiatives that helped to shape this important story!

(NPS) Alt-text: Images of people sitting in a row listening to a speaker give a presentation

03/11/2023

There is still time to register for this afternoon’s program, “Creating a Space on the Nation’s Preservation Agenda: Black Women and Historic Preservation”, featuring Dr. Tara Y. White, noted Public Historian and Educator from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Email [email protected] to view the event live or come in-person!

For more information, visit: https://fb.me/e/JTsGhhxU?mibextid=RQdjqZ

03/10/2023

Remember to for our annual Harriet Tubman Day Celebration on March 11, 2023! There will be programs, activities, and ranger-led talks going on from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Make sure to visit us in . See the flyer below for more details.

03/10/2023

We are forever grateful for the life, spirit, will, and sacrifice of Harriet Tubman.

Happy Harriet Tubman Day!

Harriet Tubman was an Afrofuturist in her own right.

Looking to the constellations as skyward beacons, she guided enslaved African Americans to freedom, helping them envision futures, lives, and communities outside of the restrictive structures presented by racism and dehumanization.

While a distinctly 20th century term, Afrofuturist ideas, expressions, and themes trace back to the country’s origins. Afrofuturism as we know it now, has roots spanning back to self-liberating trailblazers like Tubman, who imagined new worlds for Black Americans.

Harriet Tubman escaped the bonds of slavery as a young woman in the early 1800s. She returned to the South many times as a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad to lead other African Americans to freedom. During the Civil War, Tubman served as a spy, nurse, and cook for Union Forces. In 1863, she helped free more than 700 African Americans during a raid in South Carolina – a feat that earned her the nickname "General Tubman."

Artist and quilter Bisa Butler draws on Tubman's command of the stars above in her piece, "I Go To Prepare A Place for You,” on display in our Reckoning exhibition. According to Butler, "the sunflowers in the background have multiple meanings; one is to acknowledge Harriet Tubman’s reliance (and that of many people escaping slavery) on the North Star to help point the way towards freedom.

We explore the impact of Black women like Tubman on the cultural phenomenon of Afrofuturism in our newest exhibition opening March 24, 2023, “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures.” More: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/afrofuturism



📸 Harriet Tubman c. 1885 (detail and full view) Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

03/10/2023

Greenbelt Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Greenbelt Park (U.S. National Park Service)

PEPC

03/10/2023

This , have you read "Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State"? Authored by Dr. Ashley N. Robertson, it is one of many excellent books on Mrs. Bethune.

03/08/2023

Happy International Women’s Day!

The National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW) supported the United Nations' policies on human rights and peace, with an emphasis on eliminating segregation against people of color and women in health care, education, and housing. In this photo, NCNW Executive Director Jeanetta Welch Brown (seated on floor) and other NCNW members, acquaint German women with role of Black women in America here at the Council House in the late 1940s.



(NABWH/NPS) Alt-text: Black and white image of a group of women standing, sitting on furniture, and sitting on the floor in a room in front of large windows with drapes, a crystal chandelier, and a large mirror over top a sealed fireplace, with large flags on the mantle.

03/07/2023

It's ! Every National Park site is known by a four letter code. These four letters can help you find the specific webpage for a park. Yosemite is YOSE. Grand Canyon is GRCA. The National Mall is NAMA. Gettysburg is GETT. What do you think ours might be?

03/04/2023

Photos from Fort Washington Park's post

03/04/2023

On this day, 110 years ago, the 22 Founders of Delta Sigma Theta boldly marched into American history by participating in the Women's Suffrage Parade of 1913 - and we have been on the frontlines ever since.

As we commemorate we also recognize the contributions Delta Sigma Theta and our members have made over the years because OUR HISTORY is Black History!

03/04/2023

Photos from Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument's post

03/03/2023

We can’t wait until everything is complete!

03/03/2023

This , we share of photo of our beloved Mary McLeod Bethune during her final international trip to Caux, Switzerland in 1954, a year before her death. The woman pictured to her right is Minnie Thompson Rogers. Rogers was one of Mrs. Bethune’s closest friends and was the state of Florida's first licensed female funeral home director. She and her husband Garfield DeVoe “G.D.” Rogers ran Rogers Funeral Home. In addition to her work as a funeral home director, she was a civic leader, the founder of the West Bradenton Women's Club, and a co-founder of the area's first public nursery school. In 1937 when Mrs. Bethune was the Director of the Division of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration, she brought funds to Manatee County, Florida for the creation of the 13th Avenue Community Center for its African American children—funds that Rogers help to distribute and oversee.

Why is it important to contribute to the life of your community?

(MRA Photos Caux) Alt-text: Black and white image of a group of people standing

03/03/2023

03/03/2023

The women of Delta Sigma Theta, an African American sorority, brought books to students in the segregated South in the 1930s. Their bookmobile reached schools with few teachers and resources.

This photo is from our National Museum of American History's Scurlock collection.

Follow our Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum for more women's history stories all year.

03/02/2023

This , check out this photo featuring two pioneering Black women educators, our own Mary McLeod Bethune and Fannie C. Williams. Born March 23, 1882 in Biloxi, Mississippi, Williams moved to New Orleans to attend high school and finished both the College Preparatory and Normal Departments of Straight College (now Dillard University) in 1904. In 1920, she received two baccalaureate degrees from Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti (now Eastern Michigan University) in Pedagogy and a Master of Arts degree from Michigan University at Ann Arbor in 1938. Later, she pursued further study at Ohio State and Columbia Universities.

She spent the bulk of her career in New Orleans public schools, teaching students as well as training teachers. Her list of accomplishments is long, and includes opening nursery school and Kindergarten classes in the early years of the Great Depression—the first for Black children in the city. She became a pioneer in the field of African American education in the South, as she worked for holistic development of children which included mental, physical, emotional and spiritual growth, and like Mrs. Bethune, presidents of the U.S. sought her advice. President Herbert Hoover sought her input on the Conference on Child Health and Protection, President Franklin D. Roosevelt solicited her help at his conference on housing, and she attended President Harry S. Truman’s Midcentury White House Conference on Children and Youth. She lived a long life, dying in 1980 at the age of 98.

What teacher in your life first shaped your relationship with education?

(University of New Orleans) Alt-text: Black and white image of two women dressed nicely standing outside of a school building

03/01/2023

Today is the first day of National Women’s History Month!

Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate the vital role of women in American history and culture throughout the month of March. The theme of this year’s month-long observance is: "Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories".

What women have helped to expand your understanding and strengthen your connection with others?

(NABWH/NPS) Alt-text: A collage of black and white images featuring groups of women in different settings

03/01/2023

Six days before Rosa Parks’ protest, civil rights lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree helped win the Keys v. Carolina Coach Company case, which also involved a Black woman refusing to give her bus seat to a white person.

Learn about this and much more this Saturday, March 4th at 12 noon when author Katie McCabe discusses the life and pioneering work of Roundtree. For more information, visit: https://fb.me/e/ZzHTlLBk?mibextid=RQdjqZ

This is an online event and you must RSVP at [email protected].

(Dovey Johnson Roundtree) Alt-text: Black and white image of Dovey Johnson Roundtree

02/28/2023

In addition to being the national headquarters for the National Council of Negro Women, 1318 Vermont Avenue also housed an Archives of Negro Women’s History. Today, the National Archives for Black Women's History exists, and that archive is preserved in Landover, Maryland.

Why is preserving records important?

(NABWH/NPS) Alt-text: Black and white image of a meeting of the NCNW's Archives Committee in the Boardroom of the Council House in the 1950s featuring NCNW's third national president Vivian Carter Mason (seated at the table on the right) and its national historian Dr. Lorraine Williams (standing behind the woman wearing the white hat), and other council members

02/27/2023

The National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers () entered into a quiet phase in the 1980s, worked to reinvigorate participation in the 1990s, and today, while not as active as its mid-century prime, NAFAD continues to uphold the vision through workshops, seminars, peer reviews and mentoring, including the Philadelphia chapter's junior NAFAD program. Today, staff of the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House NHS and it’s National Archives for Black Women’s History, and staff at the National Park Service Museum Resource center in Landover. MD, maintain the doll collection along with millions of other objects and documents from parks in the national capital region.

How do you show support to a cause you believe in?

(NPS) Alt-text: Image of the National Park Service Museum Resource Center building in Landover, MD