Eric Jackson was 14 years old when he performed as part of a singing group at the 1974 dedication of the Mary McLeod Bethune Statue in Lincoln Park.
He re the event vividly. It was hot, he re, but that’s not what he was focused on. “It wasn’t hot to me. I was so excited and afraid.”
He was wearing slacks and a shirt, and he performed with a group of girls his own age singing background. “It was an honor that day, to perform,” Jackson said. “I didn’t know the impact at that time. [At] 14 years old, sports and music was my thing,” Jackson said.
According to the National Park Service (NPS) the statue was unveiled on July 10, 1974 —what would have been Bethune’s 99th birthday— to a crowd of 18,000 who gathered despite temperatures rising to 94 F.
It was re-dedicated July 13, 2024, on the 50th anniversary of that occasion in front of a gathering of about 500 amid similar temperatures. The event was co-hosted by the NPS, which manages the site, and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), which commissioned the statue, getting Congressional and raising nearly $500,000 to fund the monument to their founder.
Bethune—educator, civil rights activist, presidential advisor, public servant, and champion of women’s rights—was born on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina. She went on to found the Daytona Normal School for girls in 1904, which merged with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Florida in 1923 and became Bethune-Cookman College. In 1935, she founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). The NCNW fundraised to erect the statue, necessitating a 1960 t Act of Congress.
The statue was the first monument to to honor an African American and the first portrait statue of an American woman on public land in the District.
According to NPS Park Ranger Kevin Bryant, the NCNW chose the location because of the Emancipation Monument. Frederick Douglass spoke at the 1876 dedication of that controversial statue, noting his disproval of the portrayal of the Black man, whom he considered to be in a position of unmanly subjection.
After the ceremony, Douglass commented that there was sufficient space in the park for an additional memorial to Black self-emancipation, Bryant said. It was that wish that the NCNW moved to fulfill with the Bethune memorial.
The monument features Bethune as a mirror to Lincoln; she also stands, holding a scroll. But where Lincoln’s hand is held over the head of the kneeling Black man, Bethune extends hers to the dancing Black children, “rai a still-unformed generation,” as historian Kirk Savage wrote.
Lincoln Park was redesigned prior to the installation of the Bethune monument. So that the 12 foot monument to Bethune would not overpower the depiction of the president, it was placed in a sunken plaza. However, the president also deferred to Bethune; originally facing east, the Emancipation Monument was turned to face the Bethune Memorial.
The 1974 dedication was attended by then-Mayor Walter Washington. He said Bethune “was an integral part of this city, and now she has returned larger than life in this magnificent work of art.” In 2024, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) reminded the assembled that there were still too few representations of Black women in the nation’s capital. “We’re challenged to make sure that we our history and that we make sure that it is properly reflected in our public spaces, our public buildings, our curriculums, our activities, our events, our officials,’ Bowser said. Pointing to Bethune’s advocacy for voting rights and engagement, the Mayor said these resonate today in the District’s ongoing struggle for statehood. “More than that, what we anticipate is many months to come is an assault on our very autonomy and home rule,” before calling on visitors to statehood for DC.
Actress Cecily Tyson read Bethune’s Last Will and Testament in 1974, her voice “trembling with emotion,” according to a report in the Washington Post. In 2024 that role was filled by students from the Washington School for Girls.
Justin Bethune attended the ceremony. His grandfather Albert McLeod Bethune, Jr. and his father Albert McLeod Bethune III were there in 1974, together with his mother. “I wanted to be here today to carry on that tradition,” he said.
Bethune, 39, flew from California to represent his side of the family. “It’s a true honor,” Bethune said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to conceptualize the legacy that she left,” he said.” Bethune said he tries to carry forward his great-great grandmother’s impact on the world by living her Last Will and Testament.
For him, the re-dedication attended by so many dignitaries was a wonderful experience. “It’s incredible, and I’m really grateful.”
While Bethune looked forward, Eric Jackson took a moment to look back on his life over the 50 years the statue has stood in Lincoln Park. American University’s Humanities Truck was on site, with graduate students in history interviewing those who had attended both the 1974 and 2024 events. Jackson was interviewed, musing how over the past century he sang on Broadway, struggled with his demons and is now an executive chef.
He’s come full circle, Jackson said. ”I’ve lived the dream that God gave me,” he said. “and to come back today and to witness this and be interviewed by American University… wow.”
