Tribute raises millions to help pay group's mortgage
National Council of
Negro Women has a
building between White
House and Capitol
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
WASHINGTON - Oprah
Winfrey, DlOn King, Danny
Glover and a host of others
made civil rights leader
Dorothy
Height's
9 0th
birthday
wish
come
true. The
gala in
honor of
her birth
day on
March
20 in
Washington, D.C., raised
more than $6.5 million to
retire the mortgage on the his
toric National Council of
Negro Women national head
quarters building at 633 Penn
sylvania Ave., N.W. The
building is one of the few
along the famed strech of road
owned by African Americans.
What began with a chal
lenge and a donation by Don
King of $110,000 was quickly
taken up by Oprah, who
announced a $2.5 million gift.
The Freddie Mac Foundation
added $1 million. Danny
Glover, who co-hosted the
evening with Oprah, added
$100,000 in memory of his
mother, who was a longtime
NCNW section president in
San Francisco. The outpouring
of corporate and private phi
lanthropy continued. Even
some children and teens
stepped forward to make $100
donations.
Other notables in atten
dance included Maya Angelou
(who received the evening's
Uncommon Height award);
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton;
Education Secretary Rod
Paige; Coretta Scott King; A1
Sharpton; former Labor Secre
tary Alexis Herman; D.C.
Mayor Anthony Williams;
Dick Gregory; and a host of
political leaders, including
Con
gress
woman
M a x i ne
Waters;
Ambas
sador
Susula of
South
Africa
and
Susan
Taylor.
The building fulfills one of
NCNW founder Mary
McLeod Bethune's greatest
wishes ? to establish a strong
presence of African-American
women in the nation's capital
to ensure their voices are
heard. It is located midway
between the White House and
the Capi
tol and is
the only
property
owned by
a n
African
Ameri
can
organiza
tion ont .
the "cor
ridor of power." It will house
the National Centers for
African American Women,
including the Dorothy I.
Height Leadership Institute.
The property has added
historic significance because
it stands on the corner of the
historic site of Washington's
slave market. There, in 1848,
77 fugitive slaves were sold
after the largest group
attempted escape on the
Underground Railroad. In that
group were two teen-age girls,
the Edmondson sisters, who
played a crucial role in galva
nizing public support for the
Abolitionist Movement and
inspiring Harriet Beecher
Stowe to write "Uncle Tom's
Cabin."
NCNW purchased the
building in 1996.
Since being called in by
the city of New York as a
o social worker to help deal
with the Harlem riots of 1935,
Height has worked for social
justice from the grass-g?ots to
the White House to^vedge
open doors previously closed
to African-American women.
She played a historic role
planning the Civil Rights
Movement with Martin Luther
King, Roy Wilkins, Whitney
Young, John Lewis and A.
Phillip Randoph. She has
known and worked with some
of the greatest figures of the
20th century, including W.C.
Handy, Marcus Garvey. W.E.B
Du Bois, Adam Clayton Pow
ell, Mary McLeod Bethune,
Eleanor Roosevelt and every
president since Truman.
Height is a recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Free
dom. the nation's highest
civilian honor, and the presti
gious NAACP Springarn
Medal, among many other
honors.
The National Council of
Negro Women is a coalition of
38 national organizations and
250 community-based char
tered sections with an out
reach to 4 million members.
NCNW has its headquarters in
Washington, D.C., and has
international offices in Sene
gal and Zimbabwe.
"It was a never-to-be-for
gotten evening," s'at
Height. "With this genero
the National Council of Ne
Women will not only burn t.
mortgage but seed an endo\ -
ment and assure the future. Wc
can never forget our good
friends and members who
have made this possible."
King
Angelou
Winfruy
File Photo
Dorothy Height with President Clinton in 1998. Height has been a driving force behind the
National Council of Negro Women for decades.
Photo by Kevin Walker
Philip Merrill flips through a team book for a 1940s black female bowling league.
Merrill
from page AI
and those who want to get their
hands on such items. The compa
ny also has thousands of historical
items in its archives, items that are
often rented to film companies to
make period pieces look more
authentic.
The Baltimore-based Unity
Cultural Center is the not-for
profit arm
of the
company.
Many of
the items
Merrill
has col
lected are
on display
at the cen
ter, where
Merrill
serves as
director.
During the many lectures that
he gives all over the country, Mer
rill often emphasizes that items
that many people think have no
historical or financial value may,
in fact, be very significant.
"You need to know what to
look for. how to look for it and
how to interpret ...It's important to
have community outreach pro
grams that will help to enlighten
the public," he said.
Merrill has found prized pos
sessions in a variety of forms: a
team book from an all black
women's bowling league in the
1940s, a Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan constitution from the 1960s,
a letter written to a friend by
famed writer Zora Neale Hurston
while she was living in Durham.
A few of the items that Merrill
holds make him poke his chest out
a bit. He has a rare photo of free
dom fighter Sojourner Truth and a
letter written by abolitionist and
journalist Frederick Douglass.
Merrill has purchased some
of the items he has. Others have
been simply given to him by fanu
ilies to ensure their prosperity, and
still others have come by way of
very untraditional means.
"I will look in trash cans."
Merrill said with a grin. "People
are used to seeing me in my suits
on 'Antiques Roadshow.' but I'm
a dumpster-diving king."
Merrill also regularly visits
flea markets and garage sales.
Ironically, he brought along with
him items related to Winston
Salem he purchased at yard sales
in his hometown of Baltimore.
These items included a degree
from Winston-Salem Teachers
College, the school that became
Winston-Salem State University,
and a yearbook from Atkins High
School, circa 1960.
"As people pass on and move
on, so does their stuff," said Mer
rill, explaining how he was able to
find the items in his neck of the
woods.
"Antiques Roadshow," which
features a number of appraisers
like Merrill who look over items
and tell owners whether they have
diamonds or duds, is one of the
most popular shows on PBS and it
has developed somewhat of a cult
following. Merrill said some of
the regular appraisers on the show
now travel with bodyguards to
shield them from enthusiastic
female fans.
Although Merrill has been a
regular on the show for some time
now, he said he still hates to tell
people that grandma's old eye
glasses or doll set is virtually
worthless.
"I am very neutral when I do
an appraisal, but I also try to be
very personable with people," he
said.
In between lectures and
appearances on the television
show, Merrill has found much to
keep him busy. He has recently
gotten his hands on 1,000 docu
ments dating back to the 1820s
pertaining to an inter-racial fami
ly. Merrill is researching the docu
ments in hopes of publishing a
book about the find. He also is
searching for descendants of the
family, some of whom he said are
passing for white today in various
parts of the country.
Merrill also is writing a book
about the construction of Alaska's
Alcan Highway, which was con
structed in bone-chilling condi
tions by black soldiers during
World War II. Merrill has already
interviewed a local man for the
book. Hayward Oubre. Oubre, a
well-known artist, developed the
arts program at WSSU and was
one of the soldiers who helped to
build the 1,500-mile highway that
connects British Columbia. Cana
da. with Fairbanks, Alaska. The
book should be out by this fall.
Merrill
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