Existing comment:
African American Heritage Trail, Washington, DC
Phyllis Wheatley YWCA
901 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
This was the city's first Young Women's Christian Association and the nation's only independent Black YWCA. It was organized in Southwest Washington as the Colored YWCA in 1905 by members of the Book Lovers Club, a Black women's literary group led by Rosetta Lawson, one of the co-founders of Frelinghuysen University. The founders sought to provide affordable housing and services to African American women and girls flocking to the city to seek employment. In 1920, after a number of moves, the YWCA opened here. The group changed its name to honor Phillis [sic] Wheatley (ca. 1755-1784), considered the first published African American poet. |