Artist Dana Ellyn

The Bookman: Carter Woodson

Date2016

MediumAcrylic on linen

Dimensions48 × 36 in. (121.9 × 91.4 cm) Framed Size: 51 1/2 × 39 1/2 in. (130.8 × 100.3 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2017.053

ClassificationsPaintings

Locations

DCPS Central Office (1200 First St NE)

DescriptionThe Bookman: Carter Woodson is from Dana Ellyn’s series based on significant historical sites along Cultural Tourism DC’s Neighborhood Heritage Trails. The Bookman depicts the sixth stop on the Shaw trail, at 9th and Q Streets, NW, where Carter G. Woodson worked and lived from 1922 to 1950. Woodson, born to formerly enslaved parents, earned a PhD from Harvard University and became a noted scholar and educator. Known as the “father of Black history,” he studied the African diaspora and founded what would become Black History Month. Because he often walked the streets of Shaw carrying stacks of books, local children called him “Bookman.”