"Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National HIstoric Site" by NPS / Victoria Stauffenberg , public domain
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House
National Historic Site - District of Columbia
The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site preserves the house of Mary McLeod Bethune, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW. National Park Service rangers offer tours of the home, and a video about Bethune's life is shown. It is part of the Logan Circle Historic District.
The site consists of a three-story Victorian townhouse and a two-story carriage house. Bethune made her home in the townhouse from 1943 to 1955, when she lived on the third floor, while the National Council of Negro Women occupied the first and second floors. The floor plan of the home remains unchanged from the days when Bethune lived there, and most of the furnishings are original to the home and owned by Bethune and the NCNW.
Official Visitor Map of George Washington Memorial Parkway (MEMPKWY) in Virginia and District of Columbia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Detail Map of the Georgetown to Swains Lock section of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (NHP) in Washington D.C., Maryland and West Virginia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Official Visitor Map of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (NHP) in Washington D.C., Maryland and West Virginia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Official Brochure of Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site (NHS) in the District of Columbia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
https://www.nps.gov/mamc/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McLeod_Bethune_Council_House_National_Historic_Site
The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site preserves the house of Mary McLeod Bethune, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW. National Park Service rangers offer tours of the home, and a video about Bethune's life is shown. It is part of the Logan Circle Historic District.
The site consists of a three-story Victorian townhouse and a two-story carriage house. Bethune made her home in the townhouse from 1943 to 1955, when she lived on the third floor, while the National Council of Negro Women occupied the first and second floors. The floor plan of the home remains unchanged from the days when Bethune lived there, and most of the furnishings are original to the home and owned by Bethune and the NCNW.
Mary McLeod Bethune achieved her greatest recognition at the Washington, DC townhouse that is now this National Historic Site. The Council House was the first headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and was Bethune’s last home in Washington, DC. From here, Bethune and the NCNW spearheaded strategies and developed programs that advanced the interests of African American women.
From Baltimore and Points North: Take the Baltimore-Washington Parkway south to US Route 50 west (which becomes New York Avenue). Take New York Avenue to Massachusetts Avenue and continue west. Turn right onto 13th Street. Go one block and turn left onto 'N' Street. Go another block and turn right onto Vermont Avenue. 1318 is one half block up the street on the left. Street parking is limited and restricted. Please read the street signs carefully.
National Archives for Black Women's History
The National Archives for Black Women's History (Located in Landover, MD, click on above title for details) documents the legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune. The archives collects materials about and illustrating Mary McLeod Bethune, the National Council of Negro Women, other African American women's organizations, and individuals associated with those organizations. The archives also documents the ongoing preservation and interpretation of the Bethune legacy. Researcher access is by appointment only.
The Archives and its research facilities are located at a facility in Landover, Maryland. Access is by appointment only. Please contact NABWH_Archivist@nps.gov to obtain finding aids, registration forms, detailed directions, and to schedule appointments.
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
MAMC
Bethune Council House in Spring time full bloom!
Boardroom Conference Table
Table with glass table top and wooden chairs
Visitors can view original Boardroom Conference Table where Mary McLeod Bethune and NCNW members met and planned programs that affected African American women, their families, and communities.
Parlor
A room with ornate furniture, crystal chandelier, large mirror, and large portrait of Mrs. Bethune
The Parlor was served as the setting where Mary McLeod Bethune and NCNW members entertained guests and foreign dignitaries, and also where seminars and other important meetings were held.
President's Office
A desk and chairs roped off with other furnishings and objects mounted on the walls
This room served as the NCNW President's Office where meetings were held and business was conducted.
Past meets present
A historic photo of the parlor room is held up in front of the same view today.
Walk the same rooms as Mrs. Bethune and the NCNW.
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House. African American Civil Rights Network
Did You Know: Women and African Americans Could Vote in NJ before the 15th and 19th Amendments?
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, but some New Jersey women could vote as early as 1776. African Americans in the state could vote if they met the residency and property requirements. They lost these rights in 1807, only to fight to regain them.
women carrying suffrage banners greet each other on the street. Photo @ Library of Congress
Shaping the System under President George H.W. Bush
President George H.W. Bush was an ardent supporter of the national parks. Explore some the parks that are part of the legacy of the presidency of George H.W. Bush, who served as the 41st president of the United States from January 20, 1989 to January 20, 1993.
President George H.W. Bush shaking hands with a park ranger at the World War II Memorial
National Park Getaway: Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
Tucked in a row of brick townhouses lining Vermont Avenue in Washington, DC, is a headquarters that played a pivotal role in advancing civil rights for African Americans and women. As furnishing and exhibits return to the house, the legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune, the National Council of Negro Women, and its many historic visitors remain within these walls and is felt outside of them.
Ranger talking next to a sign of Mary McLeod Bethune
Suffrage in 60 Seconds: African American Women and the Vote
African American women often found themselves marginalized by both Black men and white women in the fight for equality. How did they ensure that their voices were heard? Ranger Titus has the story.
Photo collage of several African American suffragists. Suffrage in 60 Seconds logo
Using Their Voices: Founding Women of National Parks
As we commemorate both the centennial of the 19th Amendment and the 104th birthday of the National Park Service, we’re highlighting a few women who harnessed their public voices to protect powerfully important American places.
Mary McLeod Bethune, True Democracy, and the Fight for Universal Suffrage
Mary McLeod Bethune -- educator, club woman, and stateswoman -- asserted the universality of equality in and through all things. Her contributions to the women’s suffrage movement were evident in her rhetoric challenging American society to become a true democracy, as well as in her utilization of institutional spaces to plan, strategize, and allocate resources.
black and white portrait of bethune, seated. NMAH
Series: On Their Shoulders: The Radical Stories of Women's Fight for the Vote
These articles were originally published by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) as a part of the WSCC blog, The Suff Buffs. The Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission was created by Congress to commemorate 100 years of the 19th Amendment throughout 2020 and to ensure the untold stories of women’s battle for the ballot continue to inspire Americans for the next 100 years. In collaboration with the WSCC, the NPS is the forever home of these articles
Logo of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission
Series: Suffrage in Sixty Seconds
When was the last time you voted? For the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution enfranchising women, park rangers at the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument created these one-minute videos that highlight suffrage subjects and the heroes who made woman suffrage a reality—including those women who continued the fight for full enfranchisement beyond 1920.
Alice Paul raises glass above ratification banner
Sea Level Rise in the DC Area
Learn about current and projected rates of sea level rise in the greater DC area, based on local water level data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
A tall white cylinder attached to a wooden pier with Hains Point in the background.
National Parks Named in Honor of Women
Women’s history is found in more than 400 national parks across the country and still being made today. National parks come in many different shapes, sizes, naming designations, and reasons for being created. Explore national parks that were created and named in honor of specific women and take a closer look at these women’s lasting legacy on American history.
Bust of Alice Paul
Realizing the Dream: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Beyond
Signed into law July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Many national parks were created to preserve and tell the story of the struggle for civil and human rights leading up to the Act and beyond as we continue to work towards realizing the dream for all people.
Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at night
Black History Dream Team
Learn how two teachers, Mary McLeod Bethune and Carter G. Woodson, worked together to share scholarship on Black History with the public.
Four people stand in formal business outfits.
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Mary McLeod Bethune
Council House
National Capital Parks-East
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House
National Historic Site
leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the
/
challenge of developing confidence in one another. I
leave you a thirstfor education. I leave you respectfor the
uses ofpower. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity.
I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow
man. I leave you finally a responsibility to our young
people.
—
MARY
MCLEOD
BETHUNE'S
"LEGACY, "
1955
B
y her own words
and example,
Mary McLeod
Bethune demonstrated the value of
education, a philosophy of universal
love, and the wise
and consistent use
of political power
Photo by Harrison,
in striving for racial Chicago, 1943.
and gender equality.
The 15th of 17 children of former slaves,
Bethune grew up amidst the poverty and
oppression of the Reconstruction South,
yet rose to prominence as an educator,
presidential advisor, and political
activist.
Through her own schooling by missionaries in South Carolina, Bethune
recognized the importance of education
in the emerging struggle for civil rights.
In 1904 she founded the Daytona
Educational and Industrial School for
Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida,
which later merged with the Cookman
Institute to become Bethune-Cookman
College—and later, Bethune-Cookman
University.
Mary McLeod Bethune worked tirelessly to influence legislation affecting
African Americans and women and
continued to be an important voice for
human rights until her death in 1955 at
the age of 79.
Headquarters for the National
Council of Negro Women
I
n 1935—the same year President
Roosevelt brought her to Washington
as a special advisor on Negro affairs—Bethune founded and became the
first president of the National Council of
Negro Women.
Always eloquent, Bethune wrote:
"The great need for uniting the effort
of our women kept weighing upon
my mind. I could not free myself from
the sense of loss, of wasted strength
sustained by the national community
through failure to harness the great
power of women into a force for constructive action. I could not rest until
our women had met this challenge."
the personal papers of African American
women, records of their organizations,
and a collection of more than 4000
photographs that document African
American women's activities in the 20th
century.
Designated a National Historic Site by
Congress in 1982, the Mary McLeod
Bethune Council House is now administered by the National Park Service.
Meeting at the Council House, October 26, 1955.
Photographer unknown.
Today, through national affiliate
organizations and 250 community-based
sections, the National Council of Negro
Women unites millions of Women, in
their efforts to reach peaceful solutions
to the problems of human welfare and
civil rights.
National Archives for Black
Women's History
M
ary McLeod Bethune was one of
the first African American leaders
to recognize the need to preserve
historical records, especially those
pertaining to African American women.
Appropriately, the house that once
served as headquarters for the National
Council of Negro Women contains the
National Archives for Black Women's
History, the only institution in the
United States solely dedicated to this
purpose. The archival holdings include
The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House NHS.
NPS Photo
The Mary McLeod Bethune Council
House National Historic Site continues
to serve as a research center. It's
archive preserves the heritage of
African American women, and the site
recognizes the achievements of African
American women, and serves as a
memorial to a pioneer in her field. It
perpetuates Bethune's legacy of leadership, commitment, and service.
Related Points of Interest
How To Get There
Features
Logan Circle Historic District
•
Ranger-led tours
T
•
Exhibits, films, lectures,
workshops
•
Bookshop
•
Archives, o p e n by
appointment
he Bethune Council House is part of a neighborhood of
distinguished three and four-story Victorian houses built
in 1875. At first, a fashionable residential area for whites, by the
1940's these were the homes of prominent African American
political and social figures. With time, those residents moved on
and the once-grand homes deteriorated. In recent years, preservation efforts have revitalized the area.
Lincoln Park
Information
A
12-foot-tall bronze statue of Mary McLeod
Bethune graces Lincoln Park, located on
East Capitol Street between 11th and 13th
Streets Northeast. Dedicated in 1974 on the 99th anniversary
of Bethune's birth, the statue is inscribed with the educator's
famous "Legacy".
African American Heritage Trail
T
he Mary McLeod Bethune Council House NHS is among
the sites included in the African American Heritage Trail of
Washington, DC. For free copies of the trail booklet, contact the
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House at 202 673-2402.
The Mary McLeod
Bethune
Council House is located at
131