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Logan Circle in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

Striving for Equality

A Fitting Tribute

— Logan Circle Heritage Trail —

 
 
Striving for Equality Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, December 29, 2014
1. Striving for Equality Marker
Inscription.
This building was the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women from 1943 to 1966. Political activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) founded NCNW in 1935 in her nearby apartment. She moved the organization here eight years later. The building, a National Historic Site, now houses a museum and archive of African American women's history. During the tenure of Dorothy Height, the Council's fourth president (1957-1998), NCNW moved to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

Trained as a teacher, Bethune founded a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1904. (It eventually became Bethune-Cookman University.) Her advocacy work on behalf of women and children brought her national attention in the 1920s and led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to name her to the National Youth Administration in 1936. As a member of FDR's “Black Cabinet“ — prominent African Americans who helped ensure equal access to New Deal jobs, training, and economic assistance — Bethune promoted black federal employment. During World War II she successfully lobbied President Roosevelt to allow African Americans into the Women's Army Corps. And under her leadership the NCNW led blood drives and sold bonds to demonstrate support for U.S. war efforts.

Ironically, from 1908 until 2005, Confederate Memorial Hall
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including a veterans' retirement home, operated quietly in 1322 Vermont Avenue ,two doors down from the NCNW.

The unusually small house at 1341 Vermont Avenue predates the development of Logan Circle. Such modest structures dotted the landscape before Boss Shepherd's modernizations of the 1970s, which promoted construction of large, fashionable rowhouses.
 
Erected 2012 by Cultural Tourism DC. (Marker Number 11.)
 
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African AmericansCivil Rights. In addition, it is included in the Former U.S. Presidents: #32 Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the Logan Circle Heritage Trail, and the Mary McLeod Bethune series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1943.
 
Location. 38° 54.488′ N, 77° 1.834′ W. Marker is in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in Logan Circle. Marker is on Vermont Avenue Northwest south of O Street Northwest when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1318 Vermont Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20005, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Bethune Museum-Archives (within shouting distance of this marker); The Artistic Life (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); It Takes a Village
Striving for Equality Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, December 29, 2014
2. Striving for Equality Marker
(about 400 feet away); Hello! My name is Dawn Redwood. (about 400 feet away); Logan Circle (about 600 feet away); When Logan Rode The Battle Line (about 600 feet away); John Logan House (about 600 feet away); No Braver Man Than John Logan (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Northwest Washington.
 
Also see . . .  A Fitting Tribute: Logan Circle Heritage Trail. Cultural Tourism DC website entry (Submitted on August 10, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.) 
 
Mary McLeod Bethune<br>Council House<br>National HIstoric Site image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, December 29, 2014
3. Mary McLeod Bethune
Council House
National HIstoric Site
1318 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, December 29, 2014
4. 1318
National Council
of
Negro Women
1341 Vermont Ave image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, December 29, 2014
5. 1341 Vermont Ave
Mary McLeod Bethune 1875-1955 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, February 16, 2015
6. Mary McLeod Bethune 1875-1955
This c. 1925 pastel portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune by Winold Reiss hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

“The fifteenth of seventeen children born to her formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune believed deeply in education as the main route out of poverty for herself and other African Americans. In 1904 she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute—a school for black girls in Daytona, Florida. By 1929 that institution had blossomed into Bethune Cookman College. But perhaps Bethune's greatest impact came in the mid-1930s with her service as an adviser for the New Deal's National Youth Administration, which had been established to aid the jobless youth of the Depression. She used her position as a platform to become a powerful voice against racial discrimination throughout the federal government. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an order in 1941 requiring equal consideration for African Americans seeking jobs in the government and in the nation's defense industries, there was little doubt that Bethune's lobbying had played a major rote in bringing it about.” — National Portrait Gallery
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 18, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. This page has been viewed 605 times since then and 8 times this year. Last updated on March 8, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on January 18, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.   6. submitted on April 2, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 19, 2024