Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site

1318 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 2005-3607

Phone:
(202) 673-2402

WELCOME to Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site

The Father of African-American History

Imagine a world in which people like you have no written history, or that which has been written is incomplete or distorted. Before Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson (1875–1950) began his work, there was very little information, and much of that stereotypical misinformation, about the lives and history of Americans of African descent.

The Carter G. Woodson Home

The Carter G. Woodson Home at 1538 9th Street, NW in Washington, DC, was Dr. Woodson's home from 1915 until his death in 1950. He directed the operations of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History and pursued his own studies of African-American history from there. 

After his death, the home continued to serve as the national headquarters of the Association until the early 1970s. It is now vacant, closed to the public, and in need of rehabilitation. The home was acquired by the National Park Service in 2005.

Carter G. Woodson

Dr. Woodson was the son of former slaves, but earned his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1912—only the second black American to do so (after W. E. B. DuBois). This achievement was even more extraordinary since he did not begin his formal education until he was 20 years old. 

He had been denied access to public education in Canton, Virginia, where he was born in 1875, and did not start school until he moved to Huntington, West Virginia. He received his high school diploma two years later, a bachelor's degree from Berea College in 1897, and went on to earn A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago before attending Harvard.

ASALH

In 1915, he founded The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (the Association) and The Associated Publishers to assure an outlet for the publication of works of African-American history and the scholarly work of black scholars. 

The Association is now known as The Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH). In 1926 the Association, under Dr. Woodson's leadership, established Negro History Week to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Today this commemoration has expanded into Black History Month.

Directions:

From The National Mall travel east onto Constitution Avenue NW, until you come to 12th Street (which is a one-way street). Make a left turn onto 12th Street. Continue traveling north on 12th Street NW, until you come to Rhode Island Avenue. 

Make a right turn onto Rhode Island Avenue. Keep straight on Rhode Island Avenue, until you come to 9th Street. Make a right turn onto 9th Street. Keep straight and 1538 9th Street will be the third house on the right (the red brick one).