Bennetta Bullock Washington
Born
Bennetta Camille Bullock

May 1, 1918
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
DiedMay 28, 1991(1991-05-28) (aged 73)
Washington, D.C.
Occupation(s)educator, director of federal employment program
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1942⁠–⁠1991)​

Bennetta Bullock Washington (May 1, 1918 – May 28, 1991) was an American educator and community leader, founder and director of Job Corps for Women, a program of the United States Department of Labor.

Early life

Bennetta Camille Bullock was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one of the eight children of Rev. George Oliver Bullock and Rebecca Bullock. Her father was a prominent Baptist minister.[1][2] The Bullock family moved to Washington, D.C. when Bennetta was young, and there she attended Dunbar High School and Howard University[3] before she earned a Ph.D. in counseling psychology[4] from Catholic University of America.[5] Her dissertation title was "Background factors and adjustment: A study of the socio-economic and personal factors in the school and subsequent adjustment of a selected group of high school students".[6]

President Nixon shakes hands with Walter Washington, while Bennetta Bullock Washington and Edward A. Tamm look on. 1973, Oval Office, White House.
President Richard Nixon shakes hands with Walter Washington after his being sworn in as Mayor-Commissioner of Washington, D.C. Bennetta Bullock Washington stands between her husband and Judge Edward A. Tamm.

Career

Washington taught in Baltimore and Washington before she moved into school administration. She served as principal of Cardozo High School from 1961 to 1964. She was director of the Cardozo Project in Urban Education, and served on the President's Commission on Juvenile Delinquency. From this work came her book, Youth in Conflict: Helping Behavior-Problem Youth in a School Setting (1963).[7] Of her work with troubled students, she commented, "You have to learn how to handle hostility. You don't handle hostility with hostility. It takes receptivity and empathy — don't say sympathy; that's maudlin and doesn't help at all."[8]

As an education specialist, she was a member of John Lindsay's Advisory Panel on Decentralization of New York City Public Schools, in 1967,[9] and was a professor of education at the City College of New York.[10] She was Martin Luther King Scholar in Residence at Rutgers University in 1969.[11]

Beginning in 1964,[12] Bennetta Washington was founder and director[13] of the Job Corps for Women,[14] a program of the U. S. Department of Labor, and in that role oversaw the creation of job training centers for young women throughout the United States.[15] From 1970 to 1973 she was associate director, Women's Programs and Education, in the Manpower Administration of the Department of Labor.[16] She retired from the Department of Labor in 1981.[17]

Washington's husband was Mayor-Commissioner of Washington, D.C. from 1967 to 1975, and mayor from 1975 to 1979. Bennetta Washington was considered the first lady of the District of Columbia during her husband's terms in office,[18] and was a trusted adviser to the mayor.[19] In 1968, she was invited to one of Lady Bird Johnson's lunch meetings of "Women Doers", joining singer Eartha Kitt and others to discuss juvenile delinquency and the Vietnam War.[20] In 1969, she was honored by Wilson College with an honorary doctorate.[21] In 1971, she was honored by the National Council of Negro Women, at the same ceremony honoring Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Watson, and Elizabeth Duncan Koontz.[22] In 1975, Washington hosted a luncheon in honor of visiting first lady of Zambia, Betty Kaunda, at the Museum of African Art, attended by Cecilia Suyat Marshall, Roselyn P. Epps, Dorothy Height, Helen Elsie Austin, and other noted women in Washington.[23]

Washington was one of the participants in a recorded symposium, Kin & Communities, at the Smithsonian Institution in 1977, alongside Rosalynn Carter, Alex Haley, Hubert Humphrey, Margaret Mead, and Sidney Dillon Ripley.[24]

Personal life

Bennetta Bullock married Walter Washington in 1941. They had a daughter, Bennetta Jules-Rosette, who became a sociology professor[25] and a biographer of Josephine Baker.[26] Bennetta Bullock Washington died from cardiac arrest in 1991, aged 73 years, in Washington, D.C.[1][13][17] The District of Columbia State Board of Education (DCSBOE) offers a Bennetta Bullock Washington Scholarship, named in her memory.[27][28]

References

  1. 1 2 "Bennetta Washington, Wife of Ex-D.C. Mayor Walter Washington, Dies in D.C." Jet: 53. June 24, 1991.
  2. ↑ Birmingham, Stephen (2016-09-27). Certain People: America's Black Elite. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781504041027.
  3. ↑ Protopappas, John J.; Mcneal, Alvin R. (2012-03-27). Washington on Foot, Fifth Edition: 24 Walking Tours and Maps of Washington, DC, Old Town Alexandria, and Takoma Park. Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 9781588343215.
  4. ↑ Christy, Marian (June 6, 1969). "Bennetta Washington, Ph.D., Equals Her Husband's Success". Lancaster New Era. p. 13. Retrieved June 20, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Schuman, Kandy (April 30, 1968). "Dr. Washington Likes To Work". Women's Wear Daily. p. 10 – via ProQuest.
  6. ↑ Bullock Washington, Bennetta. "Background factors and adjustment; a study of the socio-economic and personal factors in the school and subsequent adjustment of a selected group of high school students". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  7. ↑ "Washington, Bennetta Bullock, 1917-". The Online Books Page. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  8. ↑ MacPherson, Myra (September 18, 1967). "She Has Little Time for Small Talk". The New York Times. p. 78 – via ProQuest.
  9. ↑ "Mayor's Wife Addresses Luncheon Honoring Carver". Oakland Post. October 23, 1968. p. 15 – via ProQuest.
  10. ↑ "Job Corps Aide to Stay". New York Times. September 13, 1967. p. 37 – via ProQuest.
  11. ↑ "D.C. Educator To Aid Manpower Secretary". Sacramento Observer. May 29, 1974. p. C-7 – via ProQuest.
  12. ↑ McGriff, Sharon (November 8, 1975). "Dr. Bennetta Washington In San Francisco". Sun Reporter. p. 15 – via ProQuest.
  13. 1 2 "Educator, Women's Job Corps Director". Chicago Tribune. June 1, 1991. p. 17. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Ochman, Laurie (October 28, 1968). "A Tell-It-Like-It-Is Woman Heads Women's Job Corps". Courier-Post. p. 26. Retrieved June 20, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Lewine, Frances (February 16, 1965). "Women's Unit Seeks Recruits for Jobs Center". Star-Gazette. p. 4. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ Washington, Bennetta B. (1971). "The View from Inside". The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 7 (5): 608–611. doi:10.1177/002188637100700509. ISSN 0021-8863. S2CID 147652922.
  17. 1 2 Cook, Joan (1991-05-31). "Bennetta Washington Dies at 73; Started the Job Corps for Women". The New York Times. p. 8. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  18. ↑ Murphy, Frances (June 1, 1991). "DC's First 1st Lady Dies". Afro-American Red Star. p. A1 – via ProQuest.
  19. ↑ Walker, J. Samuel (2018-03-01). Most of 14th Street Is Gone: The Washington, DC Riots of 1968. Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN 9780190844806.
  20. ↑ Murphy, David (2006). A Texas Bluebonnet: Lady Bird Johnson. Nova Publishers. p. 88. ISBN 9781600212598.
  21. ↑ "Emergence (1968 - 1969) · "Friendship and Sisterhood": The History and Impact of Wilson's Black Student Union · Hankey Center & C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives". Wilson College. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  22. ↑ "National Women Honored". Sacramento Observer. February 18, 1971. p. C1 – via ProQuest.
  23. ↑ "The Washington Scene". Jet: 39. May 8, 1975.
  24. ↑ Carter, Rosalynn; Washington, Bennetta Bullock; Haley, Alex; Mead, Margaret; Humphrey, Hubert H.; Ripley, Sidney Dillon (1978), Kin & communities, McLain Family Band, Smithsonian Institution, retrieved 2019-06-21
  25. ↑ "Bennetta Jules-Rosette". Sociology Department, UC San Diego. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  26. ↑ Jules-Rosette, Bennetta; Simon, Njami (2007). Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252074127. Bennetta Bullock.
  27. ↑ "Bennetta Bullock Washington Scholarship". EDU in Review. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  28. ↑ Peabody, Alvin (January 29, 1992). "Former Mayor Establishes Fund In Wife's Honor". Washington Informer. p. 2 – via ProQuest.
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