Mid-Atlantic Region

American Women Writers Study Group

Spring Meeting

(organized in cooperation with the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site)

March 10, 2012

Washington, D.C. 

Mary McLeod Bethune

The registration form for this program is available under "Pages & Files" (see tab, or follow the links here) along with the National Park Service's news release and flyer.  Registration forms should be returned to the National Park Service's Mary McLeod Bethune Council House (see address on form).

PRIMARY READINGS:

Mary McLeod Bethune:  Building a Better World—Essays and Selected Documents edited by Audrey Thomas McCluskey (Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 1999).   Read the preface (see "secondary readings," below), and feel free to sample whatever interests you among Bethune's own works.  If you're short on time, you may want to start with two of Bethune's best-known works outlining her vision and legacy, respectively: "Certain Unalienable Rights" (pp. 20+)  and "Last Will and Testament" (pp. 57+).

You can order a copy by calling Margaret Miles of the National Park Service at 202-673-2402 (office) or 202-673-0027 (direct line).  Ms. Miles is the park ranger at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House with whom we are working to present this program.  The site's gift shop carries the book for $21.15, and Ms. Miles offered to take credit card orders via phone.   There are also new and used copies available on Amazon (but new stock is listed as low, with more on the way,  as of 2/28). 

In addition to printed texts, we will hear a recording of Mrs. Bethune's last speech as part of the program.

SECONDARY READINGS:

Core Readings:

will include the preface to McCluskey's book, available at http://books.google.com/books?id=lYiDrovZkrIC&lpg=PP1&dq=Mary%20McLeod%20Bethune%3A%20%20Building%20a%20Better%20World&pg=PR11#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Article on Bethune's role in integrating the armed forces prompted by Red Tails, a new film chronicling the Tuskegee Airmen:  http://www.theroot.com/views/three-women-red-tails-left-out

Background/Further Information:

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House (National Park Service):  http://www.nps.gov/mamc/index.htm 

Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Statue (Capitol Hill—across town from Logan Circle):  http://www.nps.gov/cahi/historyculture/cahi_lincoln.htm

Logan Circle Community Association:  http://logancircle.org/

LOCATION:

Watha T. Daniel-Shaw Library’s large conference room (holds up to 100 people), 1630 7^th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20001.  The brand-new building is ½ block from the Shaw-Howard Metro station (Green/Yellow lines).  See also http://dclibrary.org/watha.  Note:  You can connect to BWI Airport via the Green Line and the B30 bus and to National Airport via the Yellow Line.

SCHEDULE:

10 a.m.-12 p.m., Introductions and Panel Discussion (with a break at 11:15)

After the introduction, Eve Hall will present a short reading by Bethune, the subject of her dissertation.  The panel discussion will feature historians Dr. Betty Collier-Thomas of Temple University and Dr. Sandra Jowers-Barber of the University of the District of Columbia.  Collier-Thomas works on African American women's history and facilitated the preservation of the Council House and its archives of the National Council of Negro Women.  Her most recent book takes its title from a Nannie Helen Burroughs quote:  Jesus, Jobs, and Justice:  African American Women and Religion (New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2010).  There are five articles about the book, including one about its evolution by Collier-Thomas, in the Book Form section of The Journal of African American History, Vol. 96, No. 3, Summer 2011, pp. 349-393.

12-1 p.m., Questions and answers

1:15-2 p.m., Lunch

The registration form should include a menu for Potbelly restaurant, and you can place your order when you register for the workshop.  Assumedly, you can also order that day.  Each person is responsible for paying for her or his own lunch.  The National Park Service will handle the logistics in terms of food pick-up and clean-up.  We can eat in the meeting room.

2:15-4:30, Bus tour

Ms. Miles arranged a bus tour so that we could see more than a walking tour could allow.  The tour will feature the following:  Greater U Street; African American Civil War Memorial, LeDroit Park; Mary McLeod Bethune’s Shaw residence; Phyllis Wheatley YWCA; Carter G. Woodson’s home; Logan Circle; Mary McLeod Bethune’s Logan Circle residence; and, the National Archives for Black Women’s History. 

We’ll get out and tour the Council House and Archives and possibly also Sweet Daddy Grace’s mansion (founder of the House of Prayer).  Dorothy Height’s hatmaker has been invited to talk about the importance of Bethune’s hats as part of the Council House (think Queen Elizabeth’s hats or Madeleine Albright’s pins).  Janette Hoston-Harris, city historian for Washington, D.C., will ride the bus with the group and talk about the Shaw neighborhood.  Ms. Miles, who has more than 15 years of experience giving tours of the area, will interpret the rest of the sights.  When the tour concludes, the bus will drop folks off at the Metro station.

4:30-?, SSAWW-MA gathering

Cathy Saunders will coordinate an early evening extension of the program for current and prospective SSAWW-MA members (see below under "R.S.V.P.s").   We can have a brief business meeting along with coffee and/or drinks or dinner.  Watch for an Evite to this part of the day, or, if you haven't joined us before, contact Cathy for information. 

R.S.V.P.s:

Should go to the National Park Service for the main program (see registration form, linked here and above, for address).  A separate invitation will go to current SSAWW-MA members for an informal evening gathering after the bus tour.  If you haven't been involved with the group before but would like to learn more (and/or join us for the evening gathering), contact Cathy Saunders. 

LODGING:

Lodging options are plentiful in the Logan Circle area, and in nearby areas of Maryland and Virginia (which may be cheaper, and will work just fine if Metro-accessible).   

Note: for more information about the Mid-Atlantic American Women Writers Study Group, including a list of past meetings, please see the home page.