The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site preserves the house of

Mary McLeod Bethune Mary Jane McLeod Bethune ( McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established the organi ...

, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

rangers offer tours of the home, and a video about Bethune's life is shown. It is part of the Logan Circle Historic District.Latimer, Leah. "Bethune Home Is Center of Historical Site Debate." ''Washington Post.'' May 26, 1982. The house is about five blocks north-northeast of the McPherson Square Washington Metro on the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

and Orange Lines, and about five blocks south of the U Street Metro station on the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

and

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In th ...

Lines. It is a half block southwest of Logan Circle.

About the site

The site consists of a three-story Victorian townhouse and a two-story

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

. The carriage house contained the National Archives for Black Women's History, until 2014, when the National Park Service relocated the records to the National Park Service Museum Resource Center in Landover, Maryland. The archives and a research center at the property are open only by appointment. Bethune made her home in the townhouse from 1943 to 1955. She purchased it for $15,500.Holland, Jesse J. ''Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History In and Around Washington, D.C.'' Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, 2007, p. 93. Bethune 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.

Becoming a National Historic Site

After Bethune's death, title to the house passed to the National Council of Negro Women, who continued to use it as a headquarters.Eisen, Jack. "Bethune's Home Will Be A National Historic Site." ''Washington Post.'' September 24, 1982. The Council of the District of Columbia added the site to the D.C. Register of Historic Places in 1975, and began a major restoration of the home, carriage house, and grounds. Archivist and historian Bettye Collier-Thomas was hired to manage the house, which the NCNW and the city hoped to turn into a research archive and museum. Collier-Thomas turned the museum into a nationally prominent one.Elder, Charles. "Funds Sought to Keep Bethune's Legacy Alive." ''Washington Post.'' April 27, 1989. After a $150,000 restoration, it opened to the public as a museum in 1981. The

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

awarded the facade and first floor restoration effort a historic preservation citation of merit. The structure was proposed as a National Historic Site the same year, but the National Park Service controversially refused to conduct a study that would make this determination. In 1982, Congress passed legislation requiring the United States Department of the Interior to sign an agreement with the National Council of Negro Women to further restore the house and carriage house, and to establish and maintain a museum and archives in the structure. Although the NCNW would retain ownership of the house, it would "affiliate" with the National Park Service. The museum and archives were established. Another $1 million in federal money was spent refurbishing, renovating, and conserving the house.Jackson, Leigh. "Bethune Founder Leaves To Take Temple U Post." ''Washington Post.'' November 16, 1989. By 1987, the federal government was paying $300,000 a year to maintain the house and museum, with the remaining two-thirds of the museum's budget coming from corporations, foundations, and private citizens. Collier-Thomas left the museum in 1989. The National Park Service purchased Council House in 1994 and renamed it the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site. The National Council of Negro Women purchased as its new headquarters Sears House—an $8 million, six-story, historic building at 633 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The Council House was transferred to the Park Service in October 1996.Trescott, Jacqueline. "An Affirmative Action." ''Washington Post.'' September 21, 1996.

References

External links

National Park Service: Mary McLeod Bethune Council House

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethune, Mary McLeod, Council House Historic Site National Historic Sites in Washington, D.C. Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. African-American museums in Washington, D.C. National Capital Parks-East Italianate architecture in Washington, D.C. Victorian architecture in Washington, D.C. Biographical museums in Washington, D.C. Women's museums in the United States Protected areas established in 1982 1982 establishments in Washington, D.C. National Council of Negro Women African-American historic house museums District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.)