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Most Endangered Places
2002

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Most Endangered Places for 2002

Carter G. Woodson House
1538 9th Street, NW

Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), a Harvard-trained historian and DC Public Schools teacher, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. In 1922, he moved his operations to 1538 9th Street, NW, living and working in that row house until his death. In the intervening years, Woodson successfully established Black history as an academic discipline and fought to counter the commonly held belief that African Americans had made little or no contribution to the development of the American nation. In 1926, Woodson established Negro History Week (now Black History Month). This row house is where it all began. Although the Association for the Study of African American Life and History still owns the house, it moved out in 1971.

Empty for over a decade, the house where the father of African American history worked for 38 years has a leaking roof, broken windows, and other interior damage. A registered national and local landmark, the Carter G. Woodson House was on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of 11 Most Endangered Places in the United States for 2001. The National Park Service has completed a special resources study to determine alternatives for the possible development of the home as a National Historic Site under NPS stewardship. DCPL is working with a number of groups including the National Trust and the building’s owners to help develop long-term solutions for the stablization and rehabilitation of the important African American heritage site.

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