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Known as “the Father of Black History,” Carter G. Woodson was a scholar, author, educator and journalist who dedicated his life to documenting and promoting stories of the African-American experience. He earned his doctorate from Harvard University and went on to serve as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Howard University. In 1926, he founded “Negro History Week,” a celebration of African-American achievement that eventually went on to become Black History Month. The historic site preserves the residence where Woodson spent the last 28 years of his life, as well as the headquarters for the organization he founded to promote scholarly work in African-American history, which continues today as the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial is an open-air monument to the 32nd president and his leadership during some of the most challenging times in America's history.

Home of the famous orator, abolitionist and statesman, this park is a compelling window into the past. This historic site preserves 8.5 acres known as Cedar Hill and includes the main house, gardens, and an extensive collection of personal effects belonging to Douglass and his family. Douglass moved to Cedar Hill in 1877 and lived there for 18 years. During that time, he served as U.S. Minister to Haiti and as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia as he continued to write about and speak out for human rights and equality until his death on February 20, 1895.

This park presents a thorough portrait of the strong-willed Texan who served in both houses of Congress before leading the country as president. This park encompasses the Hill Country home site that has been in the Johnson family since the 1860s as well as the ranch where the president is buried. Learn about President Johnson’s controversial role in escalating the Vietnam War and his celebrated “Great Society” legislation which expanded civil rights protections, national health care, and environmental laws. See his childhood bed, his clothes, his collection of rare automobiles, the one-room school he attended, and a wealth of other historic items.

Born to former slaves a decade after the end of the Civil War, educator and political leader Mary McLeod Bethune grew up in South Carolina as the 15th of 17 children. Despite a childhood of poverty and hard work, she walked for miles each day to attend the one-room schoolhouse established for African-American children in her community. She became the only child in her family to receive an education and began working as a teacher early in her career, eventually founding a school for African-American girls in Daytona, Florida, and serving as president of the National Association of Colored Women. In 1935, she became an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on minority affairs and founded her own civil rights organization, the National Council of Negro Women. It is the former headquarters of her organization that is now preserved at the historic site, along with details of her extraordinary life and achievements.

A walk through the heart of the nation’s capital brings visitors face to face with larger-than-life presidents and visionaries, open park lands, and elaborate memorials honoring our nation’s veterans and military history. This green space in downtown Washington, D.C., includes more than 1,000 acres of land showcasing such iconic sites as the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Approximately 25 million people visit each year to experience this unique collection of structures and spaces honoring the nation, its democracy and its citizenry.

An oasis of green in busy Washington, DC, Rock Creek Park is an expansive natural oasis in the middle of the city preserving the Rock Creek Valley. The park has many public facilities, including an outdoor concert and theater venue, a tennis stadium, a planetarium, a nature center, paved bicycle paths, and foot and horse trails along the creek and through the woodland. The park has an equestrian center that offers horseback riding lessons and guided trail rides. There is also a boat center that rents bikes, kayaks, canoes, sailboats and rowing shells. The park also provides a haven for birds and other urban wildlife.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., honors one of the founders of our country, a legendary scholar and revolutionary leader. Jefferson was the nation's third president, its second vice president and its first secretary of state. One of the principal authors of the Declaration of Independence and the founder of the University of Virginia, Jefferson is renowned for his eloquent writing and inventive spirit. This neoclassical memorial features a 19-foot bronze statue of Jefferson and excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.

This 555-foot obelisk honoring America's first president towers above the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and is one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Visitors can get a wonderful 360-degree view from the observation area at the top. The interior of the monument contains nearly 200 memorial stones. These stones — some simple, some intricately carved works of art — were donated by states, cities, civic organizations and other nations in memory of President Washington. Twice each day, when staffing allows, the Park Service gives "walk-down tours," providing a detailed and fascinating history of the construction of the monument and stories about individual memorial stones for anyone willing to make the 900-step journey down by foot.

This memorial on the National Mall stands across the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial, honoring all who served under the U.S. flag at home and abroad during World War II and inviting visitors to ponder the scope of the war that cost 405,399 American lives. Around an oval pool studded with fountains rise 56 granite columns adorned with bronze wreaths and the names of every state, district and territory that sent its sons and daughters to war. Two towers celebrate the Allied victories in the Atlantic and Pacific. Each of the 4,048 gold stars on the memorial wall represents 100 lives lost in the fight for freedom.