[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





      INTRODUCTION OF THE FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS MEMORIAL REMOVAL ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 2023

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to introduce the Francis G. 
Newlands Memorial Removal Act, which would remove the plaque and 
inscriptions on a fountain bearing Francis G. Newlands' name from Chevy 
Chase Circle, a federal park located both in the District of Columbia 
and Maryland. I am pleased Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland 
joins me in introducing this bill. This bill is part of a series of 
statue and memorial removal bills I am introducing during Black History 
Month.
  Newlands was a U.S. senator from Nevada, a conservationist and the 
founder of the Chevy Chase Land Company, which developed the Chevy 
Chase neighborhood that touches D.C. and Maryland. Newlands was also a 
segregationist. He built Connecticut Avenue and ran a streetcar up the 
road to the newly built Chevy Chase Lake. However, homes on Connecticut 
Avenue were purposely priced to keep working families out, and 
covenants were later added to many of the property deeds in Chevy Chase 
explicitly prohibiting the land from ever being owned by African 
Americans or Jews. These covenants have since been declared void.
  Newlands went further to keep Black and white Americans separate. In 
the late 1800s, he and Senator William Stewart secured 2,000 acres of 
land for Rock Creek Park. Establishing this park not only increased 
property values for landowners like Newlands and Stewart, but also kept 
white communities distinct from emerging Black communities on what they 
called the ``wrong side of the park.'' Newlands' racist views went even 
further. In 1912, he called for the repeal of the 15th amendment, which 
gave African American men the right to vote.
  The fountain in Chevy Chase Circle was established in 1932 by 
Congress. In 1990, the Chevy Chase Land Company added a plaque with 
Newlands' name next to the fountain. A resolution to remove Newlands' 
name from the fountain was first introduced by the D.C. Chevy Chase 
Advisory Neighborhood Commission in 2014. On July 27, 2020, the 
commission voted unanimously to ask the National Park Service to remove 
the plaque bearing Newlands' name and to begin discussion on a new name 
for the fountain. On September 14, 2020, the Maryland Chevy Chase 
Village Board of Managers adopted a resolution calling on NPS and 
Congress to strip any mention of Newlands from the fountain. And on 
April 19, 2022, Montgomery County Council introduced a resolution 
affirming the county's support for this bill.
  I believe NPS has the administrative authority to remove Newlands' 
name from the fountain, given that the memorial's authorizing statue 
does not name Senator Newlands nor dedicate the memorial to him. Last 
Congress, I wrote a letter with Representative Jamie Raskin and 
Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin urging NPS to use their 
existing authority to remove or conceal Newlands' name, and they have 
not done so. This bill would remove Newlands' name from the fountain 
and remove the plaque entirely.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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