Transcripts For CSPAN2 African American Historical Sites 202

I am mcghee and i have the pleasure of introducing our keynote conversationalist for this afternoon and i would like to introduce you all to these two Brilliant Minds that we will be hearing from this afternoon. First, we will hear from dr. Noelle trent, who is director of interpretation and collections and an education at the National Civil Rights Museum in memphis, tennessee. Dr. Trent earned her in public history and a ph. D. In United States history from howard university, a proud hbcu in washington, d. C. So im sure. Theres some asuu alarms in the house, of course. Dr. Trent is also an accomplished public and shes worked with several noted organizations and projects including the National Park service, the Frederick Douglass National Historic site and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American history and culture. Before she took those brilliant talents to memphis, she has been a contributor. The African American intellectual history societys blog and was featured in free and an underground special for the wgn america drama underground. One of our favorites, personal favorites. And dr. Trent has also travel internationally presenting lectures at the European Solidarity center in poland and has been a part of the memphis in poland festival. Dr. Trent has served on several triplea film boards and im sorry, Conference Planning committees that remember many, many, many meetings with her. And now she has ascended to the. 22 confer program chair. So we have her to thank for this awesome experience that were to enjoy this week. So please welcome dr. Trent. And nex. I have the pleasure of introduce saying what ill just say is one of the best ever. Do it when it comes to the the business of preservation in our keynote conversation list for this afternoon is mr. Brant legs brant is the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage action fund and Senior Vice President for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He envisioned as a social movement for justice, equity and reconciliation. This action Fund Promotes the of cultural preservation in telling the nations full history while also empowering activists entrepreneurs, artists and Civic Leaders to advocate on behalf africanamerican Historic Places. Brant is a Harvard University fellow and author of preserving African American history in places, which is considered seminal publication on preserving African American Historic Sites by the smithsonian. Brant is also a National Leader in the u. S. Preservation movement, and in 2018 received the robert g. Stanton National Preservation award. His passion for elevating the significance of black culture in American History is visible through his work, which elevates the remark stories and places that evoked centuries of black activism, achievement and community. And over the past decade, hes developed the northeast african Historic Places Outreach Program and its theme the business of preservation to build a regional movement. Preservation leaders saving landmarks in, africanAmerican History. Brant has taught at Harvard University, Boston Architectural College and the university of maryland. He is a Senior Advisor and adjunct associate professor at the university of pennsylvanias center for the preservation of civil rights sites and an adjunct at columbia universitys graduate program in Historic Preservation. And if that werent enough, ive also had the pleasure of traveling the country with brant for the last five years where hes developed a board Building Preservation leadership training that empowers africanamerican Historic Sites and museum board of directors. He is one of the most humble and down to earth people you will ever meet who has first name basis with people like phylicia rashod and everybody i can think of in the preservation space. It was like just just a number, great contacts, but also down to earth, enough to do cha cha slide at triplea conference with the and always just a delight to have. So please welcome brant legs. Well, good afternoon to you guys. Hear me . We all hear me. Oh, now you do. Lets just test this. Is anyone a graduate . The real h you out here . You know. Okay, so the mike is working. Yeah. He. Its so great to be here. I am in miami and brant, were just so happy to have this conversation. So one of my favorite things to do, its like my hobby is when people call me up and i get a lot of calls about preserving Historic Sites and what do they need to do . How do they get started . My favorite way to open up that conversation is have met brant and people like know who is here. And i was like, i always mess your title, but im like he does stuff with black Historic Sites and preservation and you should talk him. So now today everyone here is going to get to meet brant. Understand . He does. And were going to have a little chat about where we are in our preservation space. So exactly how did you get involved in Historic Preservation . So many of you probably have my story, some of my keynote talks, but i would for my professional identity. I had gotten undergrad degree in marketing. I went straight into graduate school and got a masters in business. And then i realized that Corporate America wasnt a right fit for me. And so i started that process of searching for what was next. And i thought i discovered it when i learned about a furniture making program in the school of architecture at the university of kentucky and then when i walked inside those doors, i had this random, unintentional conversation with dr. Dennis delmar. He was the chair of the graduate Program Historic preservation, and literally in 15 minutes he convinced me to take a chance. I said i would be the first africanamerican to go into the preservation program, first person with an mba and words. I can make a shitload of money using tax credits and Real Estate Development and and that i would receive the Lyman T Johnson scholarship, which was named after the first africanamerican to integrate that institution. And so i took this random chance. Couple of months later, im studying architectural history and kind of questioning that decision. But thankfully they invited to conduct the statewide inventory of historic roads and wall schools. In my home state of kentucky. Everybody heard a row of them, all schools. This is one of the most powerful social movements in american education. The fact that Booker T Washington born and his brilliant mind wanted to take to scale a movement where black children in the south had the highest quality educational facility that robert taylor, the first black professional architect in america, would design the original school plan. The George Washington carver was the de facto landscape designer, and that communities would organize and consolidate their resources to cover the building materials, to construct the schools, to donate the land. And when i learned that my mom and dad and my aunts, uncles and our family was connected to a social movement created by Booker T Washington, and that little really the physical preservation of this history, it inspired to look and question what is my own social responsibility to his legacy work of uplifting black america. So that was the moment and that year and a half project that i knew that there was a quiet power to this work and that it could help to shift our National Consciousness and understanding about the black experience. Well, were so glad you took that chance and that quiet that you speak of has done fairly well. I mean, youve just raised nearly 80 million to support black institution and Historic Preservation. Yes. And that includes 20 million gift. And let me get this right from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott danu. It and the Lilly Endowment for the preserved nation of africanamerican Historic Assets and black churches nationwide. I thank you so. Would i be correct in saying that you got money for some of us here . Yes, i do. Yes. Yes. See, brant afterwards for some money, yall need to preserve. Something out there. I know you do. Hell be at the reception. Go ahead. See him for some money. He got money for you and you keep raising money, right . Yeah, thats the. Thats the dream. So when we think of business of preservation, black museums, that historic site, were philanthropic dependent, an essence that is a challenge. We are constantly chasing philanthropic dollars from foundation funds, federal sources of funding and and we dont have enough earn and income general data to support our operations. So part of the vision creating the action fund is to advance that resource abundant vision for black preservation. So not only have we raised more than 85 million invested in more than 200 preservation projects nationwide. But weve also established a 14 million endowment for action fund to ensure the National Trust is living up to social responsibility and the resources and is creating space for black leadership to drive social innovation. And i feel excellent. So exactly what does the action fund cover . Can you give us a better sense of of what your role is at the trust . Yeah. So ive been with the National Trust for 17 years. Okay. Yeah. And i remember literally when i, you know, i started working for the trust in 2005 and our boss in office and i remember with my director wendy necklace and she had this vision that the Regional Office needed to make inroads with black preservationists in the northeast. So ten states from maine to delaware and at time i thought i would be at the National Trust for five years. I started as a grants Program Assistant and i started providing Technical Assistance to people in the field that would call for assistance. In 2009, i developed the first regional program. And it was the largest Diversity Program at the National Trust, the northeast africanamerican Historic Places Outreach Program and through that, as marian said, we developed the board building and fundraising workshop in partnership with fundraising consultants, kind of National Leader robert bull. And the idea was to be able to grow the organization on capacity and leadership capacity of Cultural Institutions stewarding and interpreting black history. Today the action fund we are investing in preservation of future through a National Grant program. You probably saw the good news on july 19 where we just invested. 3 million and 33 preservation projects across the country. To date, we funded hundred and 60 projects and invested almost 13 million. So yeah, yes, that is worthy of clapping. Absolutely. And im sure there are some beneficiaries in this room, but as we. Celebrate our fifth anniversary in november, we are focused on ensuring that black churches are at the highest at the same level as new york citys trinity or even d. C. National cathedral. What do think about the legacy and role of black churches and civil rights that they Center Culture and have amazing social Justice Program . But they are facing so many threats with aging congregation and limited resources and are not prioritizing the physical preservation of history. And so we want to correct that imbalance. We have just established a partnership with the getty foundation, where we will help to preserve Historic Places designed by black architects, the modernist style to ensure that these places are celebrate it, but most importantly, that the design contribution of black architects is known and and value in american society. And i think thats so important because dont realize how few black there are in the. My cousin is an architect and i think just recently there are 500 license black women architects in the country, just 500 black women. Right. The numbers for black africanamerican architects is not that much bigger. So were talking about small number of people. But the imprint design wise is huge. Its. Yeah. And we we we Pay Attention to some of the more noted architects, but we tend to ignore because some of them did some great. You know office buildings. But then they are also doing, you know, houses developments, communities and so these areas that are getting gentrified are being, you know, raised for other properties. Youre losing that design esthetic, that history. So thats absolutely incredible. Yeah, thats why i love birmingham and if anyone gets a chance to tour, yes, birmingham will. So you all know the birmingham is beloved in my heart and it has one of the most amazing rights legacies. But many people will walk that National Monument and not realize that the masonic temple was by architect robert taylor. They wont realize. That 16th Street Baptist Church in, the parsonage building, was designed by wallace rayfield. They dont realize that the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute was, designed by six Second Generation black architect. Its name is slipping my mind now. But the fact that there are three black architects to design historic thats part of this National Monument. I mean, were passing architecturally significant every single day. And they seem these buildings to stand without that kind of significance and meaning. And thats why documentation, research and scholarship and having organizations like triple j, m and a scholar helping us to mine and discover the multiple layers of history imbued in these Historic Places is critical to understanding the full history of the black experience. Yeah, and one of the things i enjoy about your work and having observed your career is when youre an innovator and so youre always thinking about the architects, the the built environment and and unique ways for black districts, historic districts to be preserved. You talk about some of these ideas and as your thinking futuristic. Lee along the long term preservation of our communities and our institutions kind of some of the ideas that youve been throwing out there and experimenting with right now. Im currently thinking about this idea around collect to power and so we can use memphis, for example. Yeah, lets do that. I mean, you have the lorraine motel, youve got Clayborn Temple, youve got the insurance. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. All within close proximity of one another. What does collective power look like when institutions are coming together to develop and bishops bold vision around collective power . What does a share endowment look like for these institutions to sustain the preservation and maintenance of Cultural Assets, but also supporting of the operation and and staffing needs of these . In my mind, some of the future work is bringing together. A triplea, a sala noma and partnership with the action fund, other black led organizing nations to start thinking about a 25 year vision and defining what those equity driven impacts will look like. But it starts at least within Historic Preservation, with understanding that we must empower local black communities and our allies in helping to preserve the physical of our past as a preservation as it all starts with preserving the Historic Building and the cultural lands, scapes and the stories and understanding the perpetual resources to do that long term. I do want to take the moment because you said noma, some people may not know what that is. Thats the National Organization of minority