[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 14, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H4028-H4031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CARTER G. WOODSON HOME NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE ESTABLISHMENT ACT OF 2003
Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1012) to establish the Carter G. Woodson Home National
Historic Site in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 1012
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Carter G. Woodson Home
National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that:
(1) Dr. Carter G. Woodson, considered the father of
African-American history, founded in 1915 The Association for
the Study of Negro Life and History, renamed as The
Association for the Study of African-American Life and
History.
(2) Through the Association, Dr. Woodson, the son of slaves
who earned a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University, dedicated
his life to educating the American public about the extensive
and positive contributions of African Americans to the
Nation's history and culture.
(3) Under Dr. Woodson's leadership, Negro History Week was
designated in 1926. That designation has since evolved into
Black History Month in February of each year.
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(4) The headquarters and operations of the Association was
Dr. Woodson's home at 1538 Ninth Street, Northwest,
Washington, D.C., where he lived from 1915 to 1950.
(5) The Carter G. Woodson Home was designated as a National
Historic Landmark in 1976 for its national significance in
African-American cultural heritage.
(6) A National Park Service study of the Carter G. Woodson
Home dated June 2002, found that the Carter G. Woodson Home
is suitable for designation as a unit of the National Park
System, and is feasible for designation so long as property
adjacent to the home is available for National Park Service
administrative, curatorial, access, and visitor
interpretative needs.
(7) Establishment of the Carter G. Woodson Home National
Historic Site would foster opportunities for developing and
promoting interpretation of African-American cultural
heritage throughout the Shaw area of Washington, D.C.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to preserve,
protect, and interpret for the benefit, education, and
inspiration of present and future generations, the home of
the preeminent historian and educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson,
founder of the organization known today as The Association
for the Study of African-American Life and History.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the
Interior.
(2) The term ``historic site'' means the Carter G. Woodson
Home National Historic Site.
(3) The term ``map'' means the map entitled ``Carter G.
Woodson Home National Historic Site'', numbered 876/82338 and
dated February 10, 2003.
SEC. 4. CARTER G. WOODSON HOME NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE.
(a) Establishment.--After the Secretary has acquired, or
agreed to a long-term lease for, the majority of the property
described in subsection (b), the Secretary shall establish as
a unit of the National Park System the Carter G. Woodson Home
National Historic Site.
(b) Boundary.--The historic site shall consist of the
property located at 1538 Ninth Street, Northwest, in the
District of Columbia and three adjoining houses north of that
address, as depicted on the map, if acquired or leased by the
Secretary.
(c) Availability of Map.--The map shall be available for
public inspection in the appropriate offices of the National
Park Service, Department of the Interior.
(d) Acquisition.--The Secretary may acquire lands or
interests in lands, and improvements thereon, within the
boundary of the historic site from willing owners by
donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or
exchange.
(e) Administration.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall administer the
historic site in accordance with this Act and with laws
generally applicable to units of the National Park System,
including the Act of August 25, 1916 (commonly known as the
National Park Service Organic Act; 16 U.S.C. 1 et seq.), and
the Act of August 21, 1935 (commonly known as the Historic
Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act; 16 U.S.C. 461 et
seq.).
(2) Rehabilitation agreement.--In order to achieve cost
efficiencies in the restoration of property, the Secretary
may enter into an agreement with the Shiloh Community
Development Corporation for the purpose of rehabilitating the
Carter G. Woodson Home and other property within the boundary
of the historic site. The agreement may contain such terms
and conditions as the Secretary deems appropriate.
(3) Operation agreement.--In order to reestablish the
historical connection between the home of Dr. Woodson and the
association he founded and to facilitate interpretation of
Dr. Woodson's achievements, the Secretary may enter into an
agreement with The Association for the Study of African-
American Life and History that allows the association to use
a portion of the historic site for its own administrative
purposes. The agreement may contain such terms and conditions
as the Secretary deems appropriate.
(4) Cooperative agreements.--The Secretary may enter into
cooperative agreements with public and private entities for
the purpose of fostering interpretation of African-American
heritage in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C.
(5) General management plan.--The Secretary shall prepare a
general management plan for the historic site within three
years after funds are made available for that purpose.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are
necessary to carry out this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Radanovich) and the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands
(Mrs. Christensen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Radanovich).
Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1012, introduced by the gentlewoman from the
District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), would authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to acquire the Carter G. Woodson Home in Washington, D.C., and
once acquired, would establish the Carter G. Woodson Home National
Historic Site in the District of Columbia. This new historic site would
foster opportunities for developing and promoting interpretation of
African American cultural heritage throughout Washington, D.C.
Mr. Speaker, Dr. Carter Woodson, son of former slaves, earned a Ph.D.
degree from Harvard University in 1912, becoming only the second black
American to receive a doctorate from Harvard after the great W.E.B.
DuBois. After receiving the degree, Dr. Woodson founded the Association
for the Study of Negro Life and History in his home. Dr. Woodson is
seen by many as a person of national significance because of his early
and determined work regarding African American history.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1012 also authorizes the Secretary of the Interior
to enter into an agreement with the Shiloh Community Development
Corporation for the purpose of rehabilitating the Woodson home and
other property within the historic site, as well as with the
Association for the Study of African American Life and History, to
allow the association to use a portion of the historic site for its own
administrative purposes.
Mr. Speaker, a June, 2002 National Parks Service special resources
study determined that the Woodson site is nationally significant,
suitable and feasible for the designation as a unit of the national
parks system. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1012.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that so few people know who Dr. Carter
G. Woodson was, given his significant contributions to American
historical scholarship. It is our hope that by adopting this bill, H.R.
1012, we might help educate the public regarding this great man's
important contributions as well as preserving this historic property.
Dr. Woodson's impressive career included the founding of the
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, as well as
publication of many seminal scholarly works, including ``The Negro in
Our History,'' now in its 11th printing, and 35 years as editor of the
``Journal of Negro History.'' It is based on these and other
accomplishments that Dr. Woodson has come to be recognized as the
Father of Black History. Legislation signed into law during the 106th
Congress authorized a study of Dr. Woodson's home here in the District
to determine the suitability and feasibility of adding the property to
the national parks system. That study was completed in June of last
year and supported such inclusion. H.R. 1012 authorizes the addition of
the home to our system of national parks under certain conditions.
We fully support the passage of this legislation. The gentleman from
West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), the ranking member of the full committee,
also is very supportive of this legislation. We both would like to
congratulate the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton)
for her effective and tireless efforts on behalf of this legislation.
We urge the adoption of H.R. 1012.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), the sponsor of this
legislation.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the work of the gentlewoman,
and I appreciate her yielding me this time.
I also appreciate the efforts of the ranking member, the gentleman
from California (Mr. Radanovich), and may I thank especially the
chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Pombo), as well as the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall),
ranking member, who worked very closely with me to get this bill to the
floor and keep it on track. I appreciate very much the efforts
throughout this process from the very beginning in my first bill to
this bill, H.R. 1012.
Mr. Speaker, this bill directs the National Parks Service to take
ownership, restore, and manage the historic Shaw home of Carter G.
Woodson, the Father of Black History, as he is called. The bill would
authorize the NPS to preserve, protect, and interpret
[[Page H4030]]
for the benefit of education and inspiration of present and future
generations the home where Woodson lived from 1915 to 1950. This
legislation also authorizes NPS to rehabilitate adjacent properties on
either side of the home to facilitate tourism. The Association for the
Study of African American Life and History, which Woodson founded, also
would be housed on this site as it was originally.
Congress passed my previous bill, H.R. 3201, the Carter G. Woodson
Home National Historic Site Study Act, in 2000, to begin the process of
making the property at 1538 9th Street Northwest a historic site within
the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. An NPS study as mandated
by the legislation is required before the NPS can take control of the
property. The study determined that the Woodson home is suitable and
feasible for designation as a unit of the parks system following the
transfer of title from its current owner, the association. I am
particularly pleased by the proposed rehabilitation of the entire block
that has come about because of this legislation and independent of this
legislation.
The NPS would work with the Shiloh Community Development Corporation
established by Shiloh Baptist Church, which owns almost all the
property on the block of the Woodson home. The Shiloh Corporation would
convert the block of homes to senior independent living housing,
maintaining the historic facade of the rural houses. So Congress is
able to leverage much more out of this designation and take over of
this property than might have been originally envisioned.
This legislation honors Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a distinguished black
American and founder of the Association of Negro Life and History. The
significance of his home was recognized in 1976 when it was designated
as a nationally historic landmark. This bill will ensure that the
Nation's pride and purpose in celebrating Black History Month is not
marred by neglect of the home of the founder of the commemoration and
the study of black history itself. Dr. Woodson was a distinguished
American historian who established African American history as a
discipline and spent a lifetime uncovering the contributions of African
Americans to our Nation's history. He founded and performed his work
through the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which
has since been renamed the Association for the Study of African
American Life in History. Among its enduring accomplishments, the
association under Dr. Woodson's leadership instituted Negro History
Week in 1926 to observe in February the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln
and Frederick Douglass. Today, of course, Negro History Week, which was
mostly celebrated in segregated schools like my own here in the
District when I was a child and in Historically Black Colleges and
Universities, has gained support and participation throughout the
country among people of all backgrounds as Black History Month.
{time} 1130
Dr. Woodson, the son of former slaves, earned his Ph.D. from Harvard
University in 1912, becoming only the second African American to
receive a doctorate from Harvard after the great W.E.B. DuBois.
Woodson's personal and educational achievements were extraordinary in
themselves, especially for a man who had been denied access to public
education in Canton, Virginia, where Woodson was born in 1875. As a
result, Dr. Woodson did not begin his formal education until he was 20
years old, after he moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where he
received his high school diploma 2 years later.
He then entered Berea College in Kentucky, where he received his
bachelor's degree in 1897. Woodson continued his education at the
University of Chicago, where he earned his A.B. and M.A. degrees, and
then got his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
During much of Dr. Woodson's life, there was widespread ignorance and
very little information concerning African American life and history.
With his extensive studies, Woodson almost single-handedly established
African American historiography. Dr. Woodson's research literally
uncovered black history and helped to educate the American people about
the contributions of African Americans to the Nation's history and
culture.
Through painstaking scholarship and historical research, his work
helped reduce the stereotypes captured in pervasively negative
portrayals of black people that have marred our history as a Nation. To
remedy these stereotypes, Dr. Woodson in 1915 founded the association.
Through the association, Dr. Woodson dedicated his life to educating
the American public about the contributions of black Americans to the
Nation's history and culture. This work, in bringing history to bear
where prejudice and racism had held sway, played an indispensable role
in reducing prejudice and making the need for civil rights remedies
clear.
Mr. Speaker, this extraordinary history includes starting his own
press, because there were no publishers, even for his great historical
works.
To assure publication, under Dr. Woodson's leadership, ASNLH in 1920
also founded the Associated Publishers, Inc. for the publication of
research on African-American history. Dr. Woodson published his seminal
work, The Negro in Our History (1922), and many others under Associated
Publishers, and the publishing company provided an outlet for scholarly
works by numerous other black scholars. ASNLH also circulated two
periodicals: the Negro History Bulletin, designed for mass consumption,
and the Journal of Negro History, which was primarily directed to the
academic community.
Dr. Woodson directed ASNLH's operations out of his home at 1538 Ninth
Street, NW., Washington, DC in the historic Shaw neighborhood. From
there, he trained researchers and staff and managed the organization's
budget and fundraising efforts, while at the same time pursuing his own
extraordinary discoveries in African-American history. The three-story
Victorian style house, built in 1890, served as the headquarters of
ASALH into the early 70's, well after Dr. Woodson's death in 1950. In
1976, the house was designated as a National Historic Landmark.
However, it has been unoccupied since the early 80's, and today, it
stands boarded up and sorely in need of renovation. The walls inside
the house are crumbling, there is termite infestation, water seeps
through the roof during heavy rainstorms, and the house also
constitutes a fire hazard jeopardizing adjacent buildings. This house
that is a priceless American treasure must not be lost.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the full committee and
the chairman of the subcommittee, as well as ranking members of both,
for their indispensable help in moving this bill forward.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1012,
the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site Establishment Act of
2003. I want to thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia
(Ms. Norton) for introducing this legislation, and I want to thank the
committee for bringing it to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, Carter G. Woodson wrote once that his father told him
when he was growing up and his father could not read and write that
learning to accept insult, to compromise on principle, to mislead your
fellow man or to betray your people was to lose your soul.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson has long been one of my favorite heroes. I
first learned of him as a pre-teen, studying African American history
at a small church in the little town where I grew up in Arkansas, to be
a academician, teacher, lecturer, author and founder of what we now
observe as African American History Month.
Mr. Speaker, I took a class in college titled Negro History. One of
the books we used, which was required reading and a textbook, was ``The
Negro in our History,'' written by Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
Dr. Woodson is one of the most often-quoted authors that I have ever
encountered. My good friend and mentor, noted journalist and lecturer,
Lou Palmer, used to end many of his speeches and lectures by quoting
Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Lou would often say that Dr. Carter G. Woodson,
writing in his book ``The Miseducation of the Negro,'' said that ``if
you control a man's mind, you don't have to worry about how he will
act. If you control a man's mind, you don't have to tell him to go to
the back of the bus or to the back door. If you control a man's mind,
he will find his place and stay in it.''
Lou used to admonish us to never go to the back door and to never let
mass
[[Page H4031]]
media or any other entity control our minds and to never let anyone
relegate us to the back door. He would say that Dr. Woodson always
wanted us to go through the front door, and, if it was locked, then we
should get an ax or a hatchet and cut it down or kick it in.
He would also suggest to us that Dr. Carter G. Woodson did not want
us to be content once we had gotten into wherever it was we were trying
to go; that it was our duty and responsibility to reach back and help
someone else to enter.
So it was his writings and establishment of the Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History out of which has grown first Negro
History Week and now African American or Black History Month.
Just think, that Carter G. Woodson never went to high school until he
was 20 years old, 20 years old, and then went on to get a doctorate
degree from Harvard University, a master's degree from the University
of Chicago, turning out books and articles all the time, and he too
wanted to reach back and help others; and through the establishment of
Black History Month now people all over the United States and all over
the world know of some of the attributes and contributions that African
Americans have made.
Mr. Speaker, this is a great opportunity for me to simply say thank
you to my friend Lou Palmer for really exposing me to Dr. Carter G.
Woodson, and for the Nation to say thank you, Dr. Carter G. Woodson,
and for me to thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms.
Norton) for introducing this legislation.
Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, Carter G. Woodson's professional
accomplishments are impressive. In 1915, while a professor at Howard
University here in Washington, DC, Dr. Woodson launched the Association
for the Study of Negro Life and History, an organization that would
come to represent his life's work--the documentation and dissemination
of the history of African Americans.
Through Dr. Woodson's work, and the work of his organization, Negro
History Week was established in 1926 and expanded to Black History
Month in 1976. Based on his lifelong scholarship and leadership, Dr.
Woodson well deserved his title as the ``Father of Black History.''
In addition to these professional accomplishments, however, Dr.
Woodson's personal life was one of amazing accomplishment as well. Born
in Virginia in 1875, the child of slaves, Dr. Woodson was unable to
attend school as a child. However, after teaching himself to read and
write, Dr. Woodson and his brother moved to Huntington, WV, in my
congressional district, when Dr. Woodson was seventeen. It had been his
hope to attend Douglass High School in Huntington full time, but he was
instead forced to earn his living in the coalfields, attending school
for only a few months at a time.
At age 20, however, Carter Woodson was able to attend Douglass year
round and earned his degree in just 2 years. After a teaching stint in
Fayette County, WV, Dr. Woodson returned to serve as principal of
Douglass High.
I would note that today, while Douglass High School is not longer an
active school, it plays a significant role in the community. The
building, located on Bruce Street and Tenth Avenue, was placed on the
Register of Historic Places in 1985. It now serves as a museum, houses
the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Foundation, as well as the Ebenezer
Medical Outreach Center that serves the people of the Fairfield West
Community.
After college in Kentucky, Carter Woodson went on to study at the
University of Chicago, the Sobronne, and Harvard University, where he
became only the second African American to receive a doctorate.
To go from being a student at Douglass High School, to serving as the
school's principal in just a few years, is impressive enough. However,
to overcome an early life of poverty and illiteracy to achieve the
absolute pinnacle of academic achievement, by way of hard work in the
coalfields of West Virginia, is a truly amazing and inspirational
achievement.
I commend my friend, Eleanor Holmes Norton on her legislation to add
Dr. Woodson's home here in Washington to our National Park System. It
is my hope that, through the establishment of this new site, people
from around the country, and even from around the world, might come to
know the legacy of Dr. Carter G. Woodson and to draw inspiration from
his life and work.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bass). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Radanovich) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1012.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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