Page 144 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Washington, DC

142  W ASHINGT ON , DC AREA B Y AREA

u Mary McLeod
Bethune Council
House National
Historic Site
1318 Vermont Ave, NW. Map 3 B1.
Tel (202) 673-2402. q McPherson
Square/U Street. Open 9am–5pm
daily. Closed Jan 1, Thanksgiving,
Dec 25. 8 plus interactive tour for
children. = ∑ nps.gov/mamc
Born in 1875 to two former-
slaves, Mary McLeod Bethune
was an educator and civil and
women’s rights activist. In 1904
she founded a college for The stunning interior of the restored Lincoln Theatre
impoverished black women
in Florida, the Daytona this house on Vermont Avenue o Lincoln Theatre
Educational and Industrial was bought by Bethune and 1215 U St, NW. Map 2 F1.
School for Negro Girls. the Council as its headquarters. Tel (202) 888-0050. q U Street-
Renamed the Bethune- It was not until November Cardozo. Open 10am–6pm Mon–Fri.
Cookman College, it is 1979, 24 years after Closed Federal hols. 8 groups by
still going strong. Bethune’s death, that appt. 7 ∑ thelincolndc.com
In the 1930s, the original Council
President Franklin D. House was opened Built in 1922, the Lincoln Theatre
Roosevelt asked her to to the public, with was once the centerpiece of
be his special advisor photographs, manu- cultural life for Washington’s
on racial affairs, and scripts, and other downtown African-American
she later became artifacts from her life on community. Like the Apollo
director of the Division display. In 1982 the house Theater in New York, the
of Negro Affairs in Mary McLeod was declared a National Lincoln presented big-name
the National Youth Bethune Historic Site and was entertainment, such as jazz
Administration. As part bought by the National singer and native Washingtonian
of Roosevelt’s cabinet, Bethune Park Service. Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald,
was the first black woman to and Billie Holiday.
obtain a high position in the i Hillwood By the 1960s the area around
US government. Estate Museum the theater began to deteriorate;
Bethune went on to found the 1968 riots turned U Street
the National Council of Negro and Gardens into a corridor of abandoned
Women, which gives voice to the 4155 Linnean Ave, NW. Tel (202) and burned-out buildings, and
concerns of black women. 686-5807. q Van Ness/ UDC. attendance at the theater drop-
The Council grew to have a Open 10am–5pm Tue–Sun. ped dramatically. By the 1970s
membership of 10,000, and Closed Jan, Federal hols. & 8 the theater had closed down.
9 - ∑ hillwoodmuseum.org Then, in the early 1980s fund-
raising began for the $10 million
Hillwood was owned by renovation. Even the original,
Marjorie Merriweather Post, highly ela borate plasterwork
and opened to the public in was carefully cleaned and
1977. The Museum contains repaired, and the theater
the most comprehen sive reopened in 1994.
collection of 18th- and 19th- Today the Lincoln Theatre is
century Russian imperial art a center for the performing arts,
to be found outside of Russia, and one of the linchpins of
including Fabergé eggs and U Street’s renaissance. The
Russian Orthodox icons. It magnificent auditorium hosts
also has some renowned a program of concerts, stage
pieces of 18th-century French shows, and events including
decorative art. The Gardens the DC Film Festival (see p198).
are set within a 25 acre (10 ha)
estate, surrounded by wood- p National
lands in the heart of Washington, Zoological Park
Entrance to the Mary McLeod Bethune and have important collections
Council House National Historic Site of azaleas and orchids. See pp140–41.

142-143_EW_Washington.indd 142 04/04/17 2:39 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.9)
Date 20th August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm