BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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Dr. John Hope Franklin |
Peggy Seats |
Col. Ezra Cummings, Jr. |
Peggy Seats - Founder/CEO
Dr. John Hope Franklin - Exec. Adv. Bd. Chair
Col. Ezra Cummings, Jr. - Chair
Mr. George Colyer - Trustee
Robert Cook - Trustee
Louise Hutchinson - Trustee
Alexander Padro - Trustee
David Kwak - Trustee
The Washington Interdependence Council (WIC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit civic organization authorized by Congress [P.L. 105-355] to erect a monument to colonial American hero Benjamin Banneker [1731-1806] .
Founded in 1996, WIC is devoted to designing programs of environmental diversity. WIC was founded on the principal of a need to incorporate diversity into the environmental aesthetics of our social fiber. Diversity should include a public landscape that incorporates symbolic representation of all the people of the American constituency.
After lobbying Congress for nearly two years, WIC was successful in its bid to honor Benjamin Banneker with a memorial. In November of 1998, President Clinton signed into law legislation [P.L. 105-355] authorizing WIC to proceed towards endeavoring to establish a monument to America's First Black Man of Science . In 1999, WIC gained further ground upon receiving site approval from the National Capital Memorial Commission to place Banneker's Memorial along the L'Enfant Plaza corridor in southwest DC.
This site was chosen because it already had historic precedent in that the half mile promenade has been named for two of the Founding Architects of the nation's capitol. The half mile enclave is named for Charles Pierre L'Enfant, the Frenchman retained by President George Washington to design the plans for the Federal City. The southern terminus of this corridor has a commemorative circular overlook named Banneker Overlook Park which honors this colonial American hero who helped to both survey and design the federal territory of Washington, DC, among his many accomplishments.
WIC is currently working towards meeting the final major step of legal protocol for establishing a monument within the monumental core of the nation's capital. The step involves securing design approval from the U.S. Fine Arts Commission.
WIC will unveil the prototype of the Banneker Memorial design by next fall during Banneker's birth month [November, 2006].
This website is sponsored by The JBG Companies
Copyright, Washington Interdependence Council, 2007