The Wormley family of Washington, D.C. is one of the most notable African American families in the history of the District of Columbia. Most notable among the family members are, James Wormley, proprietor of the Wormley Hotel, and Stanton L. Wormley, Sr., former interim President of Howard University.

James Wormley was born free in 1819 in Washington, D.C. His parents, Lynch and Mary Wormley, came to the District from Virginia in 1814 and established a carriage business. In 1871, James Wormley established the Wormley Hotel on the corner of 15th and H Streets, NW. This was the site of the “Wormley Agreement,” the name given to the Compromise of 1877 that ended the presidential disputed election of 1876 and, with the selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as President, also ended Reconstruction in the South. Wormley was also instrumental in making sure that Congress provided appropriate funding to the D.C. public schools.

Stanton L. Wormley, Sr. was born in Washington, D.C. in 1909. He attended Howard University and was a member of the ROTC and the Glee Club. Stanton, Sr. also studied in Germany and was the leader of the Virginia State Glee Club. He then became a member of the faculty at Howard University and, in 1965, was eventually named interim President after University President James M. Nabrit, Jr. was appointed U.S. Representative to the United Nations by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

There are many members of note in the Wormley family, as well as those who married into the family. Among these are Francis L. Cardozo, former Secretary of State and state treasurer of South Carolina, and a leader in the public schools of Washington, D.C., including principal of present-day Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.