the -- the sponsors of this discussion. and to all of the smithsonian and park service staff here today, welcome and thank you. to our friends and allies in the preservation work we thank you for coming in for joining us. you to those thank from outside traditional areas of our field, scholars and advocates for community advancement. especially to our panelists, special guests who i will introduce at greater length later on in the program. your inputppreciate and want to thank you for helping us expand the scope of historic reservation so that it reflects the two root -- true diversity of our nation and work to save more overlooked places. let me tell you why this is important. we will set the stage for the next 50 years of our work. we believe that telling the full american story and becoming a more inclusive movement is crucial to our understanding of who we are, and to where we are going. recognize thets importance of these issues and doing great work to healed stories from our past. said, webeing understand we have a lot of ground to make up, in terms of saving, and engaging more communities. while as a nation we have celebrated our progress toward our founding democratic ideals, we still have trouble coming to terms with the difficult chapters of our story. however hard to confront these chapters resonate in and informed the struggles of today from gay marriage to immigration reform the black lives matter. understand today's america or the fight for justice and equality that we are undertaking now in the 21st century without a euro understanding of our past. giving the -- given the demographic changes we will definitely not understand america's future. a minority -- a majority now and the population. all of this is all the more reason why we have to tell the stories of all of our citizens and build a preservation movement that looks more like america. that is why we are gathered today. to talk about how we can engage more americans in saving places our collectiveto stories. we will first hear from someone working on these issues for a long time. robert stanton. parkrst visited a national park as a college student in austin, texas. he got a job as a park ranger in the summer. a park't just find there. he found a calling. when he took a job with the he hasl park service, dedicated himself to our parks and public land in a variety of positions, rangers, superintendent, associate director, and in 1997 under president clinton he became the 15th director and first african-american director of the national park service. while in office he took an interest in expanding diversity at the park service in terms of staff and services for minority populations. in 2001 he helped launch the african-american experience fund , the only fundraising organization at the national parks foundation that preserves african-american history. he provides consulting services to the national resources council of america to help increase conservation. an executive as professor, texas a&m, and visiting professor at harvard and yell. he has been senior advisor to the interior department and serves on the advisory council for historic reservation. in short, he is a park service pioneer. someone who is committed to the be discussing today. i am honored to introduce them. -- him. [applause] bob: thank you very much madam chair for that gracious introduction. good morning. me hasten to thank the leadership of the national trust for historic preservation. i bring you greetings on behalf of the chairman of the advisory council of historic preservation, wayne donaldson. i should add the national trust for a start preservation by law is a member of the advisory council on historic preservation. it is a pleasure and honor to greet you and i hold my warmest greeting to the interns who are with us today in all of our young stewards. none of you are of my age. i know that. i am living on somebody's borrowed time. a plot the youth are with us today. they honor us. i know that we have an ambitious schedule and i look forward to the interaction later on. i am not sure i will have time to recognize this distinguished panel. i know they will be formally introduced later on but let me with the power of the podium and the mike to take this prerogative of saluting them. able to articulate their wisdom and their knowledge. i looked eagerly to their presentation. i returned to the department interior a second time, having retired twice, to serve with the obama administration. under the labor should -- of ken salazar.n sell i remember how all of us were proud and president obama issued an executive order designating cesar chavez in national monument in california. cesar chavez.shop chaveza prayer of cesar that granted courage to serve, for in-service there is true life. ladies and gentlemen, you have accepted the challenge of service. we are grateful to you individuals in your organization. thank you for being with us. [applause] on your opening , i thought about sharing with you some of the withess that had been made the leadership, the council, various land management agencies at the federal level, the state municipality, all of the entities trying to address that challenge of achieving diversity and inclusion in this noble endeavor of historic preservation. you will be hearing from them during the course of this conference. what i have decided to do is to speak with you as a friend. there is a memorial on massachusetts avenue that honors the great philosopher writer poet jurong. but there be no purpose, absolutely no purpose of friendship other than deepening of the human spirit. i had a college remit that would remind me that a friend is one with whom you can think aloud. me.are part of i am a part of you. we're friends. i would take these few moments to think aloud. i believe that if we are to progress, forke diversity and inclusion, not preservation,ic heritage conservation, heritage preservation, we need to have a very strong >> is that philosophical underpinning that has sustained me over 50 years in conservation and preservation work. i also would share with you a few minutes of the practical application of philosophical underpinnings. the philosophical underpinning starts with a document that continues to serve us well. effective i believe in 1787. it was not a perfect document and those who wrote it new it a perfect document. inclusion and diversity were not really the mainstay of that document. it had the pronoun we. those who wrote this document new it was not perfect. provision.e a article five. so that that document to be amended. accounting, that has been amended 27 times. fast-forward 150 years. think about what occurred. we will pause as a nation in thember to understand leadingthat were fought to the enactment of the 13th amendment abolishing slavery. fast-forward to 1896. we're making progress under the 13th at the 14th and 15th amendment. to bind up the nation's wounds as president lincoln said. we hope we were getting beyond that affliction called slavery. then came the supreme court's plessy versus ferguson. to live separately. there was absolutely nothing equal about that. i lived under that doctrine. for 24 years. in my home state of texas. about diversity and inclusion we have to understand that we are trying to overcome a commitment by this nation to keep us divided. so we would not be able to overcome that in a short. of time. eye on always keep our we the people of the united states of america in order to form a more perfect union. that is the philosophical underpinning we will always have. i believe strongly in the constitution. the practical aspect. that of leadership. what i have experienced is that principleswo major if you will of leadership. one is a conviction that you can sustain. to try to succeed. the courage and conviction have to be deeply embedded. if you look at the decisions, to move from segregation to integration and now she diversity and inclusion. it was the courage of men and women. you ladies and gentlemen are heirs to that courage. the expectation is that you will take up that mantle. you will be ambassadors. to achieve diversity and equality and inclusion. .eep your eye on the prize task ofe to the including all. i will salute you again. one whose legacy has served me well. perpetual commitment by the government to preserve and enhance his legacy. i speak of none other than frederick douglass. one of the greatest fighters for civil rights. we differ asd c.es that we are as one as a thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> thank you for that inspiration. the ways inng at which we are interrelated. overlap -- but ways that we overlap. that was the genesis of bringing together this panel. will have an hour to talk followed by a brief. of questions and answers. we will try to get to some of those questions now. we will reconvene at the world cafe. eleanor smeal, founder of the feminist majority and three term president of the national organization for women. tony terry now, president and ceo of the hispanic heritage foundation. such heavy hitters all passionately dedicated to advancing the rights of underrepresented americans. thank you all for being here with us. stephanie meeks. stephanie: good morning everybody is great to have you here. i wanted to take a quick look back at the national trust. this is not a new conversation at the national trust. beenve for many years thinking and working toward creating a more inclusive preservation movement. for more than 25 years the national trust has had a diversity scholars program we welcome them to our program this morning. we offer training to diverse communities. ofancing the preservation places and narratives that are important to all communities. we have advocated for diverse places and their protection. programonal treasures , almost half the places we are working on represent diverse communities. we've been working to reach out to new communities. we've been working for 25 years at this topic we sometimes feel that we are just talking to ourselves. we are hoping to learn from our panelists ways that we can bridge that gap. beginning constructive partnership with many constituencies beyond the traditional preservation community. to save the places that are important to all americans. i wanted to ask each one of our panelists to take a moment to introduce themselves. reflect on a story from history that is important to you .ersonally if there is a place that matters to you and your story we would love to hear about it. eleanor smeal: i am the president of the feminist majority. i was just thinking. i just came from seneca falls at the beginning of the month i was inducted into the women's hall of fame a bunch of us went to seneca falls. it wasn't the first time. it was the sight of the first women's rights convention. the importance of it in the national women's rights parked there. home.eth cady stanton's susan b anthony's home in rochester. for anortant they are inspiration to the next generation. if you going to their homes you see the conditions that they are working under. susan b anthony didn't even have electric lights. very small quarters. beginningsese humble they change the world. for all of us. how little funding there is for women's history. we have to do better. i am so glad you are having this inclusion panel. women are half the universe. it has an impact on children, on the next generation but has an impact on this generation, on all of us. it inspires you. i congratulate the trust for buying poly berries house. she was one of the founders of the national organization for women. african-american woman. beginnings.mble the first african-american woman priest. she fought for the lb gt community. community. when people didn't dare to spoke that, she led. some of the mythology around our movement must be corrected. it can only be corrected if you tell our story. people always say that our movement is divided. we are not divided. press always describes it as a white woman's movement. women,african-american latinas, native americans women from all classes participated. mythology of the because divided we can be conquered. together is the story of the united states in the future. so i congratulate you for pushing inclusion, which is more than a word. it is the reality of our lives. stephanie, congratulations on your induction. [applause] polyven't bought the murray house yet, but we're working toward it. boy iti'm just a country was born in a place called sandy's utah. just before world war ii. i read the relatives coming to our home. i was just a little child. camp's.ked about it sound like a fun place to be. i do not understand what cap meant until many years had passed. ifew years ago my wife and were traveling back from los angeles to salt lake city and we took a detour and visited one of those campsites. topaz is in the western desert utah. as you look across the desert, you imagine people actually living there. body of emotion came to my . i shed some tears. this is what the understanding history is all about. i have a chance to march on the edmund pettus bridge. one experience. back to try to feel what happened during that. of time. as one goes to experience itctly what happened there, becomes a very heartfelt experience. what the young people today feel when they go to these sites. i have been involved in preserving a number of the site designating one site as a state historic site. working with the bush administration to designate the link as a national monument. the island of the law were japanese-americans were imprisoned during world war ii. relatives and posterity. this means something. for those of us of color it has often been set apart. i was kind of ashamed of who i was. what theseerstood historical moments meant. my involvement in the japanese-american citizens with the centers on preserving a lot of the sites. one of the most recent accomplishment was to pass legislation to provide funding to preserve the sites. to educate the public about the sites. funding is very low. the sites throughout the country need to indicate that. stephanie: the human rights campaign is the largest organization for gay people. our movement like all of those represented here is a constant balance between rebellion and quiet inclusion. stonewall was a seminal moment. but it wasn't the first. stone call needs to be preserved. but we also have places like compton's cafeteria and the tenderloin in san francisco. the very first place for transgender women pushed back against the police. to ensure that they were not able to participate fully in society. the women in the cafeteria pushed back and said we'd had enough. today if you all caps that space it's just a vacant building. there's no plaque is the memorial. there's no nothing. most lgbt people have no idea what compton's cafeteria is in whites important. it is just a footnote in history. if we don't talk about these places, they don't get included. there is not a willingness this country to allow our youths to aarn about lgbt people willingness to talk about who we are and where we are. some of those quiet moments. an important part of our history but is only a moment. a lot of people here don't remember lawrence versus texas. same-sex couples no longer could be criminalized. thrown into jail because of who they are. it is at best a flash moment for most americans. a lot of places where change happens are difficult to preserve. everyone up here has had major victories at the supreme court and major losses as well. way to talkind a about the supreme court in a broader context. a place that is both a beacon of hope and often a deliverer of severe devastation. we need to look at that huge range of places. the fullness of our stories. history books for everyone. [applause] >> we had restarted at the white house in 1987. historically that is where our organization actually started. you see some of the same challenges that were going on than and way before them. westminster. it preceded brown versus board of education by six years. desegregating california schools. it started an internment camp. mexican laborers were working there. a japanese man gave lands to the mexican family. their children had to go to school very very far away. it was the same thing as it was in the south with other groups. you couldn't drink out of the same water fountain. it was committee segregated. a lawyer from the naacp worked with the family to desegregate the school system. as warren who in that time was the governor of california. frederick douglass. all those waves rolling at the same time can make it really makes clash on the shore. to be in the coming to desegregate the state of california. where some of these movements started. the kitchens in these tiny houses. fields whereng at people can take a break from work. those are places that i think of why travel around this country. i see where movements started. now i'mre brave, thinking of 15-year-olds with laptops. they can reach more than martin luther king and cesar chavez could in a lifetime. the impact that they potentially can make. thank you for having me here. sitting in this house is a really privilege for me. claudia: i'm the chief operating officer of the naacp. in 1909.ounded it was eerily reminiscent of the times we're living in now. disenfranchisement. lynchings. employment discrimination. togetherl group came and issued the call. to get people together to talk about the issues that were facing people of color. likeroup included people w.e.b. dubois. they all came together with the same mission. description racial -- discrimination. i think about the house of amelia boynton, one of the marchers who was injured on the bloody sunday march 50 years ago. she died this past year. we started at the naacp america's journey for justice. she represented the millions of people who were on the ground working for issues of equality and justice. it had boots on the ground. these are important sources and resources for equality and justice. been bothe court has a bone and bane for those of us who work for equal justice. the voting rights act was essentially gutted. we are all set to start from the beginning ensuring that all of , they are losing their ability to change the world. court andng about the places like amelia boynton's house. historically black colleges and universities. actually and actions but also a reflection. authors of of the some of the briefs that were going to the brown versus board of education case. she came up with much of the original thinking behind those efforts. the intellectual firepower. the church as a black institution. and had a reputation as a church those part of the civil rights struggle but also reflects a tragic force. a range of things that my colleagues are talking about. places that we can have stories. we need to continue to challenge the paradigm. to figure out how to use those places. boss -- my boss says we need to venerate but innovate. [applause] those were great stories. we have celebrated in the past year a number of 50th anniversaries. including civil rights legislation in our country. we saw president obama walk across the edmund pettus bridge. obama creates a asional monument in chicago a worker's story. these people lead preservation organizations. narratives in our country are not told enough? we talked a little bit about some of the places. as we are looking for places to make the connection that so many of you talked about. one of the narratives that we need to make sure that we are bringing to the four. sara: the lgbt community, most of you in this room probably know someone who is gay or lesbian. we're spread equally throughout. every race and every class in every religion. our trans brothers and sisters are often overlooked. the importance of learning more about people who are transgender. the struggles that they face. today is difficult day for us. measure toot was a protect lgbt people from discrimination. it was also so much more. the basis of race, on the basis of religion. hatred of the trans community -- it was shared of the trans community that led to the defeat of that ordinance in houston last night. we must do a better job of helping people understand who the trans community are. floyd: we have had the michael , going back to the rodney king incident. damage the fires. one forgets that in midst of all this was a large asian american that was destroyed. baltimore and in los angeles koreatown. i think there are incidents that happen that we forget about other people that were involved in this case asian-americans were very much a part of that whole incident. we could do something to preserve that memory. most people don't know that seneca falls occurred there was ain 1978 women's conference in houston that 20,000 people that adopted a very progressive human rights agenda. it was huge. when i tell people what happened they don't know. we should commemorate that in houston. so we cannot only go to our beginnings but what is happened in 1978 and where we are going forward. i agree with you that we should and thehe hardships injustices. we have to record the victories as well. i'm thinking of places. when you walk in someone's shoes, whether it be a horrible injustice or a triumph. inspires you for action. to make the world better place. all of us are going to have to think of places as well as people to commemorate. this, we should think of people from all walks of life. i happen to be in the activist walk of life. we have people from all of our communities who made great andors and great scientists contributed to education. we also have to have a diversity of ways of affecting the world. we don't all do it with a great speech. you do it in many different ways. coretta scott king is a leader in her own right. she i tell her story, hosted the second convention of the national organization for women and was very actively supportive of peace and gay rights and women's rights. to.story should be there contributoremendous . chris scottssion, king was herself very active. stephanie: we're going to be in houston next year. note to our conference staff we should elevate that story. in about five minutes we will start taking questions from the audience. please write them down and pass them to the end of your rose. y: the role of the workers. many have built these buildings over the years. most of them immigrants. lost when you focus on much on the building. the transition from one of the workers to the architect. vision for how to make these structures. how to preserve them. i am on the board of the national building museum. diverse inget so this field of preservation. sure we are ae nation of immigrants. tributelike to include to the immigrants who built some of these places. the old post office pavilion is right outside of my building. terraceon a beautiful and i see the truck signs everywhere. andn who reviles immigrants said horrible things about mexican immigrants. everyone i see working on that building is an immigrant. from latin america. we really need to look at the important role that immigrants play. stephanie: i want to pick up on something you said earlier about technology. one of the reasons we wanted to have this summit today is because it is a new conversation for us. so we can do even more and reach more people. how can we do a better job reaching out to your constituencies? tony: it is not just necessarily broken out into different races. now the first step, i have never felt that there was a call from your industry, from your field to the latino community that i have seen. the first step is reaching out. making it relevant. how is it relevant to young black man or woman or young latino or young asian to be able to feel connected to what your mission is? technology is a great way to do it. you have to look at what the community looks like. right now it's a minority majority. more of color than not. one of the four students is latino. that is not reflected in teachers. already almost 18% of the entire population. one of those new jobs going to be? are they going to be building the buildings are they going to be developing a vision for what america looks like? you have to reach out to minority communities. is a value proposition. >> in the past we were trying to change the paradigm. i want to pick up on something you already do. the whole cruise. the young people who work on preservation projects. that's one way of connecting job opportunities for people of color and getting people to think about historic preservation not just something that old people think about but something that they can hold onto. technology, we have the strongest social media program footprint of any organization in the civil rights field. we lift up with our partners do. that is an opportunity to talk about what historic preservation issues are. how to fix young people of color. that is a way. the issues that we've all talked equality.orkers and the labor union partners that we all have a getting a pretty big hit in rhetoric about the role of unions. lots of different ways. in terms the projects that we work on it will reach out to the current, conversation is about black lives matter. they had for john these issues for a while. it is so important to connected discontinuingg nuum.ntinu fortunate tovery have a director of national parks is very understanding and very sensitive to people of color. i had the opportunity to work with john since he was western regional director. weyou look within the ranks, do a much better job including people that understand and are sensitive. they going to want to work on some of these kinds of projects. there is an internal work that can be done, a lot more of it can be done to be more aggressive in getting minority students and minority employees that can help us tell the story. stephanie: many of you have spoken about about the difficult chapters of our history. knowing what to do with those. there's been a tradition in our country cannot tell those stories. this is my much a challenge. we've been fighting for civil longerfor 50 years or but we're still challenged by this. it really raised its head in the last couple of months relating to confederate war memorials. -- limbs of our history emblems of our history that represent difficult chapters. even though they may be offensive. while your thoughts on that? tony: i see them all the time when i'm driving. i see a confederate flag on the back of someone's truck. when i see a hat or political campaign that is we want to make america great again i think they want to make america white again. [applause] note reminded every day just the historical context, but in the now. when i saw the unaccompanied minors leaving the worst violence in the entire world from central america, refugees, just like the ones from syria, and we turn our backs on them. people were threatening to turn over and turned back the children. the militia was going down there to protect our borders. national guard units were being called out. of wasst thing i thought in that movie about the buses being turned away. i don't need to look back to see the history, the ugly history. i am optimistic and i believe in youth. as much as we need to connect back historically we also need to trust used to lead. whenever i hear the next they aren of leaders being told to wait their turn. we just talked about the potential impact they can have through technology. we have a much broader sense of what needs to be done. we are living in our past right now every single day. [applause] rita: i have more questions here that we can answer. will put these back into the world cafe discussion at 1030. :30. someone noted that the native american community was not represented on the panel. sensitivity to spiritual beliefs. we did attempt to fill that seat but point is well taken. another set of questions came siteshaving to do with that don't exist, peoples they don't exist, how we get those places into our registers. how does social justice fit into the work of historic preservation? not just diversity of sites but the actual work of social justice. another person amplify that by saying you have to bring the challenging aspects of our cost of stories forward. stephanie: when you articulate those who been excluded you bring social justice into the conversation. justiceing a social we are articulating and using that power. it is important to have that prism. as you decide what to work on. what issues the lift up. it is so important for everyone. metal community they come from. represent,group i but the intersections that must aboutught whether it is race or gender or sexual orientation, it has to be a part of the conversation. floyd: a program that the japanese-american citizens did. we support the national parks. racial profiling is a very major issues today. program to bring japanese-american students and muslim american students together. to talk about the history of japanese-american internment. we took them to one of the sites. they spent some time there to examine what happened there. and how it might apply to today. i think is been a very excellent program received very well by not just the students but the parents. the muslim students because they see the parallel between then and today. rita: someone asked how we make sure that we have diverse decision-makers inside our organizations. tony: every single board that i am on i am the only latino on that board. get used to being the only person on the only person on a board. you have a huge responsibility. , is nott just fiduciary just make sure that the organization is running well, you have an additional responsibility as a person from a minority group to make sure the rebel for everyone the represent. i don't think every group is represented by one person. every time you walked down the street and there is someone on tv we are represented by that person. it is very important that you carry that responsibility with you when you sit on these boards. ptas on the board of the representing one out of four students is the only latino members.d 30 changebout how to make and the represent your community as well as the overall effort. rita: this is a question for you eleanor. how do we make sure that story of diversity in the feminist movement? smeal: the word someection vality, people might not know the word, but you have to see people in all their dimensions. integration of all the issues. none of us are one-dimensional. i wouldn't get used to being the only one. make sure you bring others and. in. if you want to institutionalize maybe there should be a permanent committee that is responsible for inclusion. there may be one. make sure that you never describe any human being as one-dimensional. it worries me that part of our lives are lost. example, i don't know a woman's rights leader of my age or even a little younger that wasn't extremely active in the civil rights movement. social justice movements are intertwined. a lot of people see her only as the united farm workers representative. she is a leading feminist. if that is all she did, that would be exhausting. but she does so much else. the intertwining should not be forgotten in everything that you do. murray: she was dynamite in so many different areas of social justice. rita: i have an eye on the clock. the diversity summit is really pointed toward humanity. of us arethat all actually empowered in all these movements. .e can fight for human rights as we advance our cause we remember to look for all the stories. we were all always here. so whatever we are involved in, let's make sure we uncover the intersection with people and the stage and not on the stage. have a good day. [applause] >> my thanks to our panelists. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. in the civil war, a number of american soldiers were killed in battle and processes of burial and identification were not able to keep up. savage gives an in-depth analysis of the process used to identify soldiers. the national gallery hosted this 90 minute talk. professor savage: everyone in this room has probably had the experience of wandering through an older u.s. city and stumbling into the beguiling section of a rural cemetery. with its vast collection of gravestones and tombs and miniature temples interspersed among rolling hills, woods, and -- dales. it is an outdoor museum in more ways than one. it was a striking difference.

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