[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11369-11371]
[From the U.S. 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.
       (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

[[Page 11370]]

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 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

[[Page 11371]]

three-story Victorian style house, built in 1890, served as the 
headquarters of ASNLH into the early '70s, 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 '80s, 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 
an 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 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 no 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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