>> hello, and welcome. hello and welcome to the association for the study of african-american life and history's 104th annual conference. we have of people moving, how the national park service and preservation is how the story of black migration. my name is madeline, and the senior executive assistant at the national parks conservation association. lowder? is that better? sorry about that. i'm so proud to be with you this afternoon. on behalf of teresa and the president and ceo, thank you for taking the time to join us and welcome. for those of you not familiar with the national parks conservation association, we have been a

powerful independent voice working to strengthen and protect america's national parks for 100 years. through a nationwide network of offices, and with more than 1.3 million members and supporters, npca speaks up for our parks, history, culture, all on capitol hill. our advocacy work cannot be done without partners. we have partnered together for decades to make sure the national park system tells the story of all americans, from preserving a critical chapter in the civil rights movement with the designation of birmingham's civil rights national monument, to the important stories like the first african-american union at the pullman national monument. we will have a lasting and positive impact on our national park system and

its visitors for generations to come. because of this partnership, we have privileged to award sylvia our centennial leadership award this past spring. npca centennial leadership award recognizes public officials or private citizens who have made an outstanding contribution towards ensuring that the national parks are ready and well prepared for their second century of service to the american people. sylvia's leadership and dedication to the birmingham and pullman national monument campaign, and a solid role in guiding the national park services rehabilitation and reopening of the carter g woodson home in washington d.c. are true examples of her commitment to protecting and preserving the african-american experience within the national park system. as many of you know, the national park service is

one of the largest stewards of african-american history and culture in the united states. around 40 of the 419 national parks are african-american experience sites. like fort monroe national monument in hampton, to the frederick douglass house in washington, d.c. to the med grand merle he evers to the reconstructed park in south carolina. these places tell the story of the african-american extremes in the united states. and it is for this very reason that we have sponsored previous sessions at the conference focused on the national park system. and while the national park service is in charge of managing these parks, they do not do so in isolation. like the npca advocacy partnership, the national park service

partners with organizations in their protection, preservation, and interpretation of african-american sites. tonight we will hear valuable stories about black migration, how the national park service is bringing this complex and significant history tonight to life. we will hear how preservationists are working with communities to preserve their historic sites and cultures, and how advocates and scholars are pushing for the creation of new national park designations and for national institutions to tell the full story of african-american history in this country. you will also have the pleasure of hearing a discussion moderated by alex pierce, the senior director of cultural resources. allen has dedicated two decades to the npca and has become to be known as the resident historian, and to many like me a friend, mentor, and colleague. with that i want to turn it over to alan. thank you. (applause)

>> i keep seeing people in the audience and i'm like rockstar, rockstar, rockstar, rockstar, even with the panelists appear, it's wonderful to see everyone here. thank you for being here for the opening plenary. for those with the background and have studied african-american life and history, you know this annual conference always begins with the plenary session related to or about the national park service. i would also like to point out david is with us, the newly appointed director of the national park service. welcome. and at the back, running around and always

taking care of everything is sylvia. and in the second row, dr. evelyn is here, it's nice to see you all here. my job as a moderator for this panel is to get out of the way. so i'm going to do that real quick. and madeline for coming up here and getting us started thank you madeline, for coming up here and getting started. if you have a cell phone make sure it is off or on vibrate. we are happy to have colleagues from c-span here who would like to record the panel and not your ringtone. the panelists up here, everyone up here a friend, that makes this special for this evening and i appreciate having this group of people here. i think the talent that we have

assembled for this plenary on black migration is reflected in the fact that we have a sellout crowd. thank you all for being here. john w franklin, recently retired from a distinguished career at the smithsonian where he served as the cultural historian senior manager in the office of external affairs of the national museum of african-american history and culture. he's a very good man and a friend of mine and it's great to have him here. dave johnson is a historian at the national park service, she has served as the midwest regional manager for the national underground railroad network freedom program. regina rogers is a supervisory park ranger at the maggie walker national historic site in richmond, virginia. we hope to hear about how she grew up in national parks. and did i get anywhere close? he told me if i failed with the pronunciation we could all refer to him as ranger e, he's a superintendent at

nicodemus national historic part and the chief of interpretation at brown fort weaver brown v. board of education. he has done exceptional work and we are proud to have him with us today. stephanie deutsch is a historian and author of the book you need a schoolhouse, booker t. washington, julius rosen wall and the building of schools in the segregated south. she will be at the others pavilion and exhibit area, she will have books to purchase. if you do not have a chance to speak with her today or at the reception afterwards, please visit her on thursday at the authors reception. and at last, my good friend, brent, this is an important guy. the executive director of the african-american cultural heritage fund for the national trust for historic preservation. he led the campaign to designate birmingham civil rights, i tried to back them up as best i could, and now thanks to our work and the park service and interior department and all the great commuting partners in birmingham, we have important

civil-rights story protected and prepared infertility in perpetuity. we will go one by one and towards the end i will come back up here for some guided questions and conversation. if i do not get too selfish with the time we have today, we will have opportunities to hear from folks in the audience with questions. we will do our best to end promptly at 6:30 because we do have after party events and people have other places to go. i would like to bring up john w franklin. thank you. (applause) >> good afternoon. it's

wonderful to be here, as i was preparing yesterday i wanted to thank my parents for giving me the exposure to the united states and the world that gave me the perspective for the work that i have done in the work that i'm continuing to do. my late father, attended the association as we called it in our home, for 70 years. from 1937 to 2007. he met carter g woodson at that first meeting in petersburg. so i thought it was just normal to acknowledge him. and my mother, who had that children's library, she was a librarian, and next to my bed there were books from as early as i could remember. and there were atlases, and maps,

and books that they brought back to me from india, europe, we traveled the nation as my father was visiting professors at cornell, wisconsin, berkeley, hawaii, maryland, and in doing so i saw the nation and the complexity of the people who live here. i wanted to start with the big picture of migration, not the 20th century. we will look at some maps. we must always remember that our knowledge is based on

those who preceded us. my father taught at howard from 47 to 56, when he arrived at 1947 and one of his students was joseph harris. joseph harris created this map of the african diaspora in 1990. and i want you to look at the right hand side of the map, which shows how africans are taken by the east african trade controlled by the sultan of oman out of zanzibar and into the persian gulf, into the red sea, into the indian ocean over the last 1500 years. long before america's so-called discovery. right now there's a project in the indian ocean, populated by people brought from india as indentured servants, and 30% were brought as enslaved people from east africa. we do not think of the indian ocean, we don't think of south asia when we think of the african diaspora, but we must. we think we know the left-hand side of the map. you will notice that

every country in the hemisphere received africans from 1500 on. the french are trying to take over brazil from the portuguese in the 15 30's, the french only end up with french guiana on the north coast, as well as martinique, guadalupe, haiti, san dominquez, and louisiana. we were celebrating last year's 300 years of african presence in louisiana to read the focus has been on virginia, but we must remember that what is now the united states also includes puerto rico, which was spanish. florida, which does not become part of the united states until the 1830's. we ignore 300 years of african presence in florida because it's not u.s. history.

notice how the africans cross panama. they walked across to ships waiting to take them down the west coast of colombia, ecuador, peru, and chile. we have been there since the 15 30's and 1540's. we forget canada, where we are not free until britain frees its slaves in 1833. we will come back to that in a moment. joseph harris, inspired by his colleagues at howard, goes to these places in the african diaspora, he goes to iraq, the middle east, southern india, and of course

he goes across all of the americas, looking for these traces of people from africa. david and david richardson, by 2010, have the databases of all of the slave ships. and i like to remind people that the insurance records of these ships tell the story, because every one of these ships is insured by lloyd's of london, and american insurance companies we don't need to mention by name. but that is how we have such rich records. i know it's too far for you to see the dates and the numbers. but out of west central africa are close to 6 million africans being taken. those big green swatches are 2 million people from east of the each of those sections. and people are brought from deep in the interior to the coastal ports from where there will be exported to the americas. i

lived on the island of gorea for four years and a car and dakar for a total of eight, and saw people coming from europe, brazil, and across the continent to understand our history. and we are taken in these floating prisons to every point in the americas. we are in charlston, the place where more africans are brought than any other part of the united states. the figure here is 211, 000, i live in the chesapeake region, less than 200,000 in new england, as well as the gulf coast, biloxi and new orleans. and then you can see the caribbean islands, the dutch, the danish, the french, the spanish bringing africans there. south carolina's very

important in the story. if you are not the first british son in barbados, you do not have a future. so you moved to south carolina and begin the importation of africans here in the carolinas. we also must see how africans are taken across the sahara into morocco, algeria, libya, close to 2 million from southern sudan into egypt, 800,000 out of somalia into saudi. into the persian gulf, the red sea, and all of these places in the indian ocean. fewer than 5% of

the 12.5 million come to united states. when we think of migrations in the hemisphere, we muster memo that every person coming from central america, south america and the caribbean come from slave-based societies. with laws that limited the opportunities of people of african descent. there is the same confluence of native people, african people, and europeans in each of these countries before the people come here. they come here with exposure to laws and attitudes and practices that they bring with them in the united states. finally, i want to share with you a map that i got in france. this shows the emancipation in the hemisphere. if you are from

the english speaking caribbean you know emancipation day is august 1, from 1833. if you have the misfortune of being from one of the french colonies you know the french revolution freed us in 1794, but napoleon's first wife, the empress josephine is a sugar planter in martinique, so he reinstates slavery for her in eight teen to 1802, and the second emancipation is 1848. the netherlands and the u.s. share 1863. but puerto rico does not become free until 1873, cuba not until 1886, and brazil

as last at 1888. i wanted to begin with the big picture of migration, so we remember that everyone coming from other parts of the hemisphere to the united states comes with their own legacy of slavery and freedom. thank you. (applause) >> thank you john, for that, for setting up the big picture. and i cannot see. here we are. hello. allen said that i was going to tell you the story

about growing up in the national park service. i did not quite grow up tall enough. but we will go forward at any rate. john set us up with the big picture of black migration. for me, it's my term to bring it to a smaller size. how black migration and the national parks affected me. when i was a teenager, growing up in roanoke, virginia, i would have said this statement. black migration and national parks have nothing to do with me. how many of you secretly would have thought that yourselves? oh good, i'm seeing some nods and hand raising. that's because, as some of our surveys, even most

recently show, when the they surveyed people who go to national parks, it comes out saying that people of color do not go to national parks. that they don't go outside. but they don't travel. obviously the franklins are different on that. but they don't travel, except to go visit with family. but when they go to national parks, they don't feel welcomed. they don't see their stories there. when i was young, i fit right into that same demographic. that criteria their there. for the next few minutes i will tell you a little bit about how i found a personal connection to our collective stories, such as black migration, through my

experiences with the national parks. when i was growing up, i was very smart. i came up in the class of roanoke virginia, which was the first class to be fully integrated in our school experiences. for me, that meant that i was an oddball. i had white friends, i had black friends, but i never felt like i fit in well with any of them. at home, it was different. at home i would be with my grandmother who would tell me stories about growing up in south carolina and i traveled to visit my other grandmother in newport news, virginia, and she would tell us about how her grandfather was in the first class of hampton university and

was a leader and shaker. and at home, with my family and siblings, we would not go to the national park, though my dad would dream about gathering us up and taking us in a big rv to the grand canyon, at yosemite, yellowstone. those were the national parks, but we never got there. instead we went up to roanoke mountain and watch the hang gliders. or do small visits like that. but it was not until one day, one of my high school teachers gave me a call and she said to me, how would you like to be a park ranger on the blue ridge parkway? i was just coming on my first semester at jmu, i had not traveled anywhere and i

said what's a park ranger and where's the park? little did i know that roanoke mountain, where my family had been going on their trips and visits, was a part of the blue ridge parkway. i had been going there all my young life, but never knew that it was a national park. i never saw park ranger there when we were walking on the trails, outside. until i became a park ranger. i never saw an arrow head on roanoke mountain until i wore one on my shoulder myself. unbeknownst to me, i already had my own connection to the national parks. i just needed to be shown. after that i was excited to learn more about the national parks. my siblings and i would jump into my 67 mustang and start going up and down the blue ridge parkway, visiting

the different places. at one point we scooped up my grandmother and took her to booker t. washington national monument, which was a living historical farm with pigs and hens and chickens and she remembered being a girl growing up in south carolina. those stories that she sat on the porch and told us came to life for us in the national park because she was able to connect with us there by showing us those pigs she used to be afraid of, and talking about how it was when she was growing up. but also talk about how she left the south. left anderson, south carolina, because of the limiting factors there. the segregation, the violence inflicted upon her that she did not want her children to experience. so she moved to

virginia and made it so that all of her children could go to school. so that her grandchildren would be able to experience a better life. again, a generational connection, learned through the national parks. by the time i started working at booker t. washington national monument. i was ready, i was on alert to find my connections everywhere i went. i was at booker t. washington monument, and at age 29 for the first time in my life i changed my address from roanoke, virginia, and i migrated to pennsylvania. real far. i started working at independence park and valley forge. revolutionary war, i did not have a direct connection there. as far as my family could go back that i knew, we did not have any revolutionary war connections. but the more i

started looking, learning, and telling the history of those who were encamped at valley forge, those who were looking towards the liberty bell as a symbol of freedom, i began to make a human connection. i did not have to be a direct descendent of someone from the revolutionary war to understand what it was like to be out on that landscape at valley forge on a cold day in february. all i had to be doing is dressing in living history clothing on a cold february day reenacting it. through the park i was able to make a human connection, person-to-person, across the century. and i think the most important connection i was able to make was that maggio walker

national historic site. but not necessarily in the way that you think. maggie oh walker is a black woman. i am a black woman, . she experienced oppression and limitation in her lifetime. i have experienced them on a different my experience of connecting to the national parks and maggie l. walker site was due to sherry jackson. i was sitting in my office and sherry started reaching out to me to talk about the people in maggie walker's neighborhood. she was talking about william washington brown, who had been enslaved, escaped slavery, and settled in a home not far from maggie walker's house. she was

looking to reach out to us to research about him as a freedom seeker. as she talked, she studied saying, it is not what you have been taught in school. it is not everyone moving to canada. it is not everyone secretly going through the swamps and fields and crossing into freedom. sometimes, freedom seeking is someone leaving and hiding in the woods for a time. or someone who has sought to free themselves. even if it was going into the next town. as we sat talking, i looked behind me, and saw a picture of james field that my grandmother had given to me, and i realized that james

fields had escaped to fort monroe during the civil war. he had not gone to canada. he had gone 90 miles east to find freedom at freedoms fortress at fort munro. he had been in the first class of hansen, getting that education. had made a way so that six generations later, his great great granddaughter could be sitting in a national park service uniform, telling the story of the people who came before. with that one call,

and years of research later, i was able to connect not only to maggie l. walker site, but to fort monroe, and also to richmond battlefield. it was those idols during the civil war that enabled him and his brothers and father and sisters to escape to fort monroe. in one fell swoop, i was able to connect to four different national parks. sometimes, you just have to go and find your story. find your connections. connect to fort munro like i did, connect to richmond national battlefield park, connect to maggie l. walker national historic site, connect to our associated site, the james a fields house, which is now a part of the underground railroad network to freedom. because someone opened my eyes. from the time i was young to the time i am now a woman of a certain age, i have grown up in the national park service, spent 35 years looking for those stories, and i found them. my challenge to you today is to do the same. find your stories. find your parks. that bind your story. and find your connection. they are there. >> good evening. i am happy to be here and i would like to thank npca for organizing this panel. i will continue on what miss rogers was talking about about the underground railroad as a migration story. let me loaded this real quick. as ellen said, i'm with the national park service underground railroad network to freedom program. this program promotes quality standards in its coordination of education, commemoration, and preservation related to the underground railroad, which is defined as resistance to enslavement to escape and slavery. pictured here is the image from jacob lawrence's series. it talks about the migration that followed world war i. if you look at it, it can be about the

underground railroad. the same cities were the same that cities struck out to on the underground raiy had more graded north and west migrated north and west. some excluded free blacks from the state and force them to be returned into slavery. others purchased their freedom while some had migrated with former slaveholders who freed them or had been freed and wills which provided them with funds to resettle. pictured on the left is a map of the early black pioneers. she documented 300 settlements. if you overlay it with the map of the underground railroad, these roots are interconnected. on the right is a map of underground railroad roots. that was one of the rows used for the underground railroad. i would like to introduce you to a few sites related to this migration that are represented in the network. the first is the union literary institute. one of two sites that represents the greenville colored settlement. this was a

settlement established in the 1810s. it reaches across the borders of ohio and indiana. wb the boys wrote, the sediment became one of the main lines from the underground railroad. the institute was established in 1846 by free people of color and quakers. it was one of the early educational institutions. according to county history, freedom seekers would stop and attend school at the institute. kaufman was one of the school boards, was on the school board, and recall how freedom seekers from kentucky would attend the school, leave his studies for a little bit, and return to assist others in a their freedom. the next site i would like to talk about is new philadelphia, in illinois. it was established in 1836. an integrated town, referred to as an all-black settlement in west central illinois. it is believed to be the first town recorded by a person of african descent. the founder referred to it as free frank, had been enslaved in kentucky but had been able to purchase his wife's freedom and then his own. he with his wife and children moved to illinois around 1830. they sold the slots to finance the purchase of freedom for family members who remained in slavery at resettle them. i like to think of this as an early chain migration. it was stuck on the underground railroad. this was allowed because not only was it brutal, but in a remote location near transportation routes. the site is now an archaeological site. it is listed in the network, but also a historic landmark and has undergone studies to determine its usability to become a unit of the national park service. former freedom seekers developed on this land. the m, relocated to st. louis where she purchased the freedom of her future husband, john baltimore. they moved to brooklyn, where there was a free black population. it is on the property she once owned and believed to be where she hid freedom seekers where the church stands. baltimore is believed to have organized other churches, all of which have connections to the underground railroad. the last site i would like to talk e remaining physical evidence is limited to a burial, cemetery, or archaeological site. the most significant things the network to freedom does is sites that black notions of integrity that may prevent them from being listed in the national register are able to

be listed and recognized for their history they represent. we are doing a lot to preserve history in ways other programs can't. that is one of our strongest a standards in its coordination of education, commemoration, and preservation related to the underground railroad, which is defined as resistance to enslavement to escape and fight. it has a verifiable associations to the underground railroad, which we refer to as the network. is it going? it is frozen. always happens to me. i am doing that one. there. currently, there are 640 listings recognized by the network in 40 states. that is a map of what the united states looks like as it relates to the underground railroad. the late great harvey g wilson began his book with the following quote. the migration of the blacks from southern states to those offering better opportunities is nothing new. he goes on to discuss how the railroad was one of migration. the railroad is considered the first civil rights movement, it could be considered the first great migration. if you

disagree with the fact the railroad was great in terms of numbers, it was great in terms of impact on transforming the life of individuals and the will it played in dismantling slavery. pictured here is the image from jacob lawrence's series. it talks about the migration that followed world war i. if you look at it, it can be about the underground railroad. the same cities were the same that cities struck out to on the underground railroad and their destinations. they not only went north to canada, but south, east, and west. destinations included florida, europe, central america, hawaii, and mexico. some chose not to go far but settled in marginal areas establishing maroon communities. this is located on

the borders of virginia and north carolina. it is a site listed in the network. looking at the underground railroad as part of the black migration story helps showcase black agency at resistance. it is considered one of the major aims of the program. the focus is not to discount white participation, nor negate the brutality of oppressiveness and inequities of the systems of domination, but is a testament to the human spirited. in traditional constructions, people of color were invisible. when they were present, they were nameless. the abolitionists and movements were constructed in terms of white benevolence and people of color were passive recipients rather than active participants. african americans became secondary characters in a story that was rooted in their own struggles. take the image here, which depicts the escape of a group of 15 freedom seekers arriving in philadelphia. the other freedom seekers stand around doing nothing while three white men struggle to assist a freedom

seeker from the boat. this image was originally called heavy weights, arrival of a party at league island. it was published in 1872. this was how the underground railroad was constructed. when i talk about the underground railroad as black migration, this is not just relative to those escaping bondage. it is about the settlement of free blacks. these communities were centers of early black economic, religious, and political development and served as places of refuge. helping freedom seekers reach destinations or welcoming them into their communities. returning to the words of

carter g woodson, the settlements were sympathetic lights, promoted migration of the free grows and fugitives from the south by serving as centers offering assistance to those fleeing. these communities are often the first stop for freedom seekers. levi kaufman, a quaker from north carolina and a self-proclaimed president of the underground railroad, wrote, soon after we relocated to indiana, i found there was a line of the underground railroad, fugitives past due that place and stopped among the colored people. he noted, three colored people who had relatives in slavery were willing to contribute to getting their loved ones out of bondage just as we would do.

many of these settlements were comprised of people of color who had been free for a long time in virginia and north carolina to kentucky. they had more graded north and west migrated north and west. some excluded free blacks from the state and force them to be returned into slavery. others purchased their freedom while some had migrated with former slaveholders who freed them or had been freed and wills which provided them with funds to resettle. pictured on the left is a map of the early black pioneers. she documented 300 settlements. if you overlay it with the map of the underground railroad, these roots are interconnected. on the right is a map of underground railroad roots. that was one of the rows used for the underground railroad. i would like to introduce you to a few sites related to this migration that are represented in the network. the first is the union literary institute. one of two sites that represents the greenville colored settlement. this was a

settlement established in the 1810s. it reaches across the borders of ohio and indiana. wb the boys wrote, the settlement became one of the main lines from the underground railroad. the institute was established in 1846 by free people of color and quakers. it was one of the early educational institutions. according to county history, freedom seekers would stop and attend school at the institute. kaufman was one of the school boards, was on the school board, and recall how freedom seekers from kentucky would attend the school, leave his studies for a little bit, and return to assist others in a their freedom. the next site i would like to talk about is new philadelphia, in illinois. it was established in 1836. an integrated town, referred to as

an all-black settlement in west central illinois. it is believed to be the first town recorded by a person of african descent. the founder referred to it as free frank, had been enslaved in kentucky but had been able to purchase his wife's freedom and then his own. he with his wife and children moved to illinois around 1830. they sold the lots to finance the purchase of freedom for family members who remained in slavery at resettle them. i like to think of this as an early chain migration. it was stuck on the underground railroad. this was allowed because not only was it rural, but in a remote location near transportation routes. the site is now an archaeological site. it is listed in the network,

but also a historic landmark and has undergone studies to determine its usability to become a unit of the national park service. the next site is the abolition wrote a site in ohio. augustus west was a free black man who migrated to ohio with his wife from virginia in the 1830's. he had an ingenious plan. he along with white abolitionist named alexander beatty devised a scheme where they would travel to the south posing as a slave dealer and a slave. it is a dangerous scheme. beatty was what escape to ohio and they would slip split the profits. it became so successful, west was able to purchase land in ohio. on the land, he built a house pictured here on the left. he called it

the mansion. he named the road abolition lane. he was making no effort to hide his activities. west assisted others on the railroad, the settlement that included former freedom seekers developed on this land. the house no longer stand. there is a historical marker located in a cemetery that recognizes his activity. the next site is quinn chapel in illinois. the church was called the a and e church. it was not built until 1878, the congregation has a history that dates back to 1839. african-american churches were a center of the railroad activity. cheryl lotion was a leading facilitator of the movement. an early church historian wrote, many ministers

were active in the antislavery movement and much of the actual work of receiving and transporting escape slaves was done by them. the chapel was founded by operatives from baltimore. since women other than harriet tubman think it is short shift in the underground railroad, i would like to focus on baltimore instead of quinn. he was a great man, but she deserves attention to. she was born and kentucky. when she was 10, her sleeve polar sold her to new orleans. she was purchased by a missionary who allowed her to buy her freedom. she tracked down her mother, who had been sold away from, purchased her freedom,

relocated to st. louis where she purchased the freedom of her future husband, john baltimore. they moved to brooklyn, where there was a free black population. it is on the property she once owned and believed to be where she hid freedom seekers where the church stands. baltimore is believed to have organized other churches, all of which have connections to the underground railroad. the last site i would like to talk about is jameson jenkins lot in illinois. it is and the bounds of a lincoln home national site in illinois. this was once the home of james and jenkins, an african-american and neighbor of lincoln who is credited with transporting the president to the train station for his and observation. jenkins was born 1808, it is not for certain when and how he was able to gain his freedom. and the 1930's, he migrated to indiana where he resided in a black farming settlement in indiana

established in the 1820's. he married a widow, elizabeth watkins, was from a free black family. they married in 1840. the couple migrated to illinois, joining his in-laws who migrated earlier. in 1850, jenkins was involved in the underground railroad event. the event was labeled as a slave stampede. this was a term used in the press to describe group slave escapes. a group escaping at one time or several slaves from the same area and a short period of time. to bring attention to these escapes, the national park service is conducting a study in partnership with dickinson college that is looking at slave stampede's as a larger phenomenon. the jenkins lot is now empty, but archaeology has been done for several different. being several

different periods. these sites demonstrate that at its core, the underground railroad is a black migration story. african-americans were central to the development and operation of the underground railroad. many of these sites do not exist as they did historically. they have disappeared or suffered from a lack of preservation. the remaining physical evidence is limited to a burial, cemetery, or archaeological site. the most significant things the network to freedom does is sites that lack notions of integrity that may prevent them from being listed in the national register are able to be listed and recognized for their history they represent. we are doing a lot to preserve history in ways other programs can't. that is one of our strongest attributes. thank you very much.

(applause) >> we are going to get this right. there we go. good afternoon. happy wednesday i usually say happy hump day. i serve as the superintendent of national historic site and the program manager at brown v. board of education national

historic site. i would bring to you the link. for a sustained statement, if not for us, they would not be a brown. i would be remiss in preparation for this topic we are talking about, when we are talking about black migrations, more than a statement about black migrations, the african-american experience has been a litany of questions. rather that making the statement black migrations, the better question, why did blacks migrate? voluntary or involuntary. with that, nicodemus was a slave of african birth and was bought

with a bag full of gold. he died years ago very old. nicodemus was a prophet, or at least he was wise. he told of the battles to come. how we trembled with fear when he rolled up his eyes and we heated the shake of his stump his thumb. nicodemus has two understandings of how it got its name. there are some that argue it got its name from the pharisees who became a follower of jesus christ at his crucifixion, when he is buried, nicodemus is there to bury his savior. others argue, this get more of the notable accreditation, there was an african prince that was enslaved in 1692. during his enslavement, he argues with those who have held him captive that one of the worst things they could do is enslave not only him but african are broad. he would become the first

african-american to fight his freedom on american soil. nicodemus as a town aligns itself with that story. there is a man named wr hill. he knows well how to promote land and acquire land. he befriends wh smith. nicodemus is the oldest african-american civilization of the mississippi that still exists. that still exists. if not for these two chief architects, along with six other compadres, there would not be a nicodemus. wr hill and wh smith come together

at they say, let's make our way west, prospect this land. once they identify the land, there are six african americans they work with. a treasure, a president. if there were only two that were literate. wr hill, he is white. and minister fb roundtree would be the other literate individual. he was always noticeable because roundtree carried a brand on the side of his face. it was a reminder from his former slave owner that that was a consequence to him getting educational instruction from his son. this would be his ticket to developing nicodemus. to put everything in context, we in this room could talk all day about what we understand about the civil rights, but the reason why i nestle these dates

in the presentation, it is irrefutable we understand how distinctly the homestead act crops up in the middle of the civil war. there is an understanding, at the end of this, there is land to be had, wealth to be made. we see in this homestead act, it has few qualifications. it is probably the most gender equitable legislation that came about before the 19th century. all you had to be was 21, have money, and commit to cultivating land for five years. the distinct or is you had to have means. in kansas, nicodemus serves as the precursor to the exit ulcers. they don't come about until 1879. when we talk about nicodemus, they were the pioneers. more so, i would be remiss, when we are talking

about nicodemus, as i shared about the question of the african-american experience, if there were a question asked of nicodemus, the question would be, what do african-americans do with freedom? to that answer, they would say, we would build it from the ground up. that they did. in 1860, we are in a civil war, we make our way to 1865. there was a domestic challenge. after the civil war, going into reconstruction, there is a rumbling in society that is not in agreeance with how people are carrying out their agency. around 1866, we get resurgence of the ku klux klan. the domestic terrorism takes hold. african-americans are still seeking a taste for freedom that does not cost them their lives. they will make

tracks to kansas. this westward expansion in hopes that if they died along the way, that sense of freedom is better than their life being taken. by 1870, we see not only has the population in kansas almost doubled, but 10 years later we will see it almost triple. that is how much freedom mattered to those who considered themselves african-american. this would be the handbill sent out as many making their way to kansas. there is what some would argue the exit duster, pat singleton. he was known for, at all cost, trying to get other african-americans free. i will put a bookmark here. the african-american experience is

so complex and rich, because it we look back to the days of the civil war, here you have free african-americans who are endeavoring in their freedom, enjoying life, willing to put on a military uniform to die for african-americans who they will never meet. pat singleton is going here and everywhere to let people know of a promised land known as kansas. he will be enslaved seven times. seven times to ensure others can taste the freedom he had agency to have. whatever wr smith and excuse me, wh smith and wr hill established nicodemus with the seven, they get 160 acre plot.

they start to recruit specifically individuals with means. most who would be late demons are from georgia, mississippi, and tennessee. the precursor is you had to have means. there are a couple of things that motivated african-americans to make their way to kansas. one was space. reverend daniel hickman and his wife were a member of that first colony. whenever they came from kentucky, you see the red line, they would take a train and made their way through topeka through ellis. then, from ellis, they would be met with met by hail with one wagon. they would have walked 35 miles. not around the corner, 35 miles. along the way, many

would not have made it to the promised land. whenever daniel hickman's wife was able to get to nicodemus, this was her response. i looked with all the eyes i had, where is nicodemus? my husband pointed out various smokes coming out of the ground and said, that is nicodemus. the scenery was not inviting at all, i began to cry. very inspirational for this promise land they had been told. this would have been the scene she saw. for those of you who know anything about the west, there is not a lot of shrubbery. the soil is not fertile. the reason this is important is because when we talk about the home setting, you will not see this

picture nor this story being told. these would have been the houses that would have been built out of the side of the ground, as they would have had extreme winters and extreme summers. this would have been another resemblance. if you were to go to nicodemus today, which i know, after this presentation, i will see you all, there is currently a saudi home that still exists that you can go into. this would have been the handbill you would have been given. you give five

dollars, two of that would have gone to wr hill, two of them to the county. here is where the story gets unconventional, uncoincidental. nicodemus was growing. the population was around 100, makes its way to 300. there is a rumor going throughout nicodemus that there is a railroad coming. there is negotiations with the santa fe, the union pacific. there is a railroad that is built. and the railroad gets built around

nicodemus. since then, in 9 in 18 85, nicodemus begins to decline. if you are along route 66, you are on the economic thoroughfare, your town will prosper because of people being able to get to your place of business. we still don't have any factual evidence as to why they would have gone around nicodemus. our former president bill clinton signed nicodemus into a historic site. if there is anything that must be taken away from this, it's that if we don't preserve history, is

bound it is bound to die where it is erected. i will see you all next year. in july there is what we call a home celebration. you come, you eat, you enjoy, you hear from the elders. we have become active spectators of history and action. there are 35 individuals that populate the townsite. if you were to go to the visitor center, you would hear specifically from someone who could say, my great great grandfather. my great great

great grandfather last question, i will leave so i can give room to other panelists, is the question one would ask, "how do you preserve the history? " through self-government, religion, education, home and family, there are these pillars that help us tell the story of a community that came with nothing, i gave everything and build something for you all to come and visit. i will see you all in july. (laughs) (applause) >> i can't wait. i'm going to

start with an image from jacob lawrence's migration period. as many of you fill the room for this meeting, one of the captions that jacob lawrence wrote for his wonderful pictures was, "and people kept coming." i thought of that. in 1948, it was a low ship from the fund that allowed a young jacob lawrence to obtain a studio space where he can put on 60 small panels. the theme of black migration lines much

residence in the life and work of julius rosenwald. it was migration, not a black migration, that migration that brought parents to these countries. crushing poverty from the 1840's. his parents lived in springfield illinois across the street from abraham lincoln's house. his father, like so many jewish immigrants, ran a clothing store. left when he was 16 to move to new york to learn about the rag trade. by the middle of the first decade, julius had bought into

a small unknown mail order company. by the time he was 40, he was suddenly a wealthy man, considering what is he going to do with this wealth? he was brought up to value a system given is a sense of righteousness, with the goal of making others self-sufficient and secure. some thing something brought his attention to the increasingly difficult situation. frith it was just at this time that he and other jews were raising money to send to europe for victims of the organized violence against jews in poland and russia. in a

speech about this time, he said, we like to look down on the russians for the way they treat their jews, but what this country is doing to their negro population is no different." in the spring of 1911, the two men met in chicago and discovered they actually had quite a lot in common. they were both problem solvers. they each created a domain.. julius took booker t. washington to visit the enormous plant on the west

side of chicago. washington retaliated by inviting julius to come down to tesuskegee. for three days they toured the campus. many of you have been there. it is a beautiful place. they were impressed by what they have saw. the campus was designed and built by students and faculty by the school. he engaged in a real conversation with booker t. washington where

he asked, what more can i do? that's when washington told him about the dire lack of schools in the south. it was dire for african-americans, determined to offer their children the education they had been denied, they were raising money for schools. washington and rosenwald put together a program that paired rosenwald's money, money raised in the african american communities those schools were built to serve. those communities donated land, labor, material, and more money than the rosenwald fund gave. thanks to booker t. washington partial skill and wins, the local school systems old and at

school systems were pulled in. these were public schools. the public school system became by far the largest donor to the school, which means by 1913 and 1932 there were over 5000 schoolhouses, teacher homes and buildings. these schools were, in some places, financially assisted by local whites, sometimes out of goodwill. in some places the schools became anchored to keep families from joining the throne in the south. in 1923, he hurt his

family was participating in building a rosenwald school, and he came back, not permanently, just to help build the school, he was a carpenter. this is his granddaughter, and she is now curator of a museum in that school. this is one of many restored schools that tell this story. when legally inforced segregation ended, some of the houses fell apart, some disappeared. others have been saved by combination of alumni passion and donations

and hard work among others from the national preservation. rosenwald reorganized his aunt and hired a professional to manage the fund. with the fund they invested in children and young people with the school. now they were going to invest in fellowship and individual scholars and creative workers. between 1928 and 1948, these fellowships are awarded the vast majorities to african-americans. among them are some big names. you heard

jacob lawrence. aaron douglas. john hope franklin. and then less well-known, but no less important figures, who became scholars, lawyers, administrators. franklin fraser, dr. charles drew. and many others. 10 rosenwald fellows participated in the legal work of the board of education case. i lived in washington dc, the phillips collection has one half of the panels of the migration series. they mounted

an entire exhibit of art inspired by migrations worldwide. a local public school in the neighborhood where i live in capitol hill went to see the exhibit and did a year-long study based on what they had seen there. they talk about the monarch butterfly worldwide migrations and people wanting to immigrate to this country. they talk about their own migration to trailers for the year while their school is being renovated. they created some images of their experience. this is the student discovering the new school facility. i think they captured something of jacob lawrence's

style. one of my favorite images. art and place have extraordinary power to move us, to inform us, to inspire us even to help the way forward. we find a powerful example in the enduring legacy of julius rosenwald's imaginative investment in people. there is legislation for congress. if

this happens, it will be the first national park service site dedicated to the life of 8 jewish americans. thank you. (applause) >> good afternoon. i am honored to be here today to share why it's important to preserve african american historic

places.i'honored to share the stage with these people. i'm the executive director of the african-american cultural heritage action fund, which is a new initiative of the trust for historic preservation. i want to starts sharing my preservation story, why it matters to preserve our history. i'm from a place called paducah, kentucky. the rosenwald story is powerful. for me i was inspired by reading the biography of booker t. washington, to learn he created a social movement that

is the physical manifestation of a social movement and response and a crisis to black education. that test kiki that tusk egee university when i was researching rosenwald, i learned that my mom and dad attended rosenwald schools. i remember making that connection understanding the power of bringing the past to the present. i also began to realize that booker t. washington and julius rosenwald, their vision of the community was real and ongoing.

preservation makes black historical figures, jewish historical figures, makes a life once lived real. i want to highlight a selection of places where we collaborated at the national trust to talk about black history. i would be remiss to not start with 1619. rooted in the economy of slavery. i'm inspired by a story of this landscape of enslavement that highlights agency, enslavement and determination. it was this unknown catalyst in 1861 before

emancipation. i also love the rich history right here in south carolina. like the hutchison house. the small community of african-americans after the civil war created their own community. we also hear stories of black love. henry, in 1885, as a gift to his loved one, would construct this house. certainly a real man. it is the beauty and resilience. we need to talk about romantic love over the years and be able to tell that story. we also know about the 105 hpc use that demonstrate to educate our youth and to create

change for our nation. we are currently working in partnership with the national park service to create a pipeline of future preservation professionals through a program called touching history. where students in the school of architecture at tuskegee at morgan state university are being inspired by the history and literally touching the physical history on their campus. anybody heard of joe frazier? born in south carolina, he had to flee due to threat of violence. he would land in

philadelphia. he would train for his two epic fights against muhammad ali. once he had enough prize earnings, he acquired the property, occupied it for four decades. it was a safe haven for black youth. in this invested neighborhood in philadelphia.i'm glad to say this building is protected in perpetuity. anybody hear of the excelsior club? this example flies another social movement. one of the most significant green book sites in north

carolina is where they had their own social space and nightlife. this building was slated for demolition. a preservation of a friendly developer had planned to acquire the building. that threat of demolition is still ongoing. anybody from chicago? we know of the migration story in the south side of chicago. for more than seven decades black artists had their own space to express their art, creativity and black identity. our work is linking together art, culture and preservation as a tool to advance community

revitalization and economic development. anybody from los angeles? in los angeles there is a place called the ladies club. 50 black women organized themselves, pooled together their resources, because they did not have their own social space during segregation. they would acquire this beautiful historic two-story mansion. these are some of the ladies stewarding this place today. anybody heard of nina simone? this is one of our signature campaigns. we all know nina

simone became the voice of the american civil rights movement. she would experience racism to the degree at her first recital her parents were asked to move to the back. activism is rooted in her dna. what is beautiful about this project is four artists out of new york city, as a form of arts activism. they acquired a property and

had a plan to restore and create this through arts programming. you have heard about birmingham, where the natural museum of african-american history and culture made us aware that there was a plan to demolish a hotel. we established partnerships to activate and develop a public advocacy campaign that would result in the creation of this motel becoming the centerpiece of the newly created birmingham civil rights monument. i think this might be considered one of the most important civil rights landmarks in the entire world. it's where the birmingham campaign was planned and

implemented. it's where black men, women and children tested the idea that collective action can change our nation and the world. birmingham is a landscape, one block away from the motel, 16th street, after church, we know the tragic events that happened there in september 1963. there is a lesser-known story. design 16th street act is church in the building that still stands today. a couple of blocks away is the masonic temple, designed by robert taylor the first licensed black architech. the birmingham civil rights institute, designed by the

second-generation black architect, max von. birmingham civil right at district and national monument is a fight of activism, achievement, community, architecture, and so much more. who has heard of madame cj walker? the two sisters were born in 1867, they both acheieved alot in business. what i think is powerful about madame cj's madam cj walker. in 1918 she had the gall to construct a house in the most expensive zip code in new york to build this estate on the same street as the most significant gothic

architectural revival. it's also three miles from the rockefeller estate. working with the previous owners, an african-american family, we have a preservation easement that protects the interior space and helps facilitate the sale of this property to the new voices fund in their vision is to reactivate this space as a think tank for female were norse of color. so, i want to close with this moment we are in. our nation is at a moment of cultural reckoning. african-american historic places are underfunded and undervalued. because of the tragic events that happened in november not because of the

tragic events that happened in november not in 2017, and 2018. charleston. mother marching around not emmanuel. you have white wanting nationalists in polo shirts to have marching around a thomas one about jefferson sculpture, wanting to create a new form of jim crow. you see one of our own historic site in nantucket, massachusetts. our work through the action fund is to on showcase and demonstrate that right preservation can help respond to a social crisis and that and that we can leverage play that we can we can

leverage these places honor the african american and this history to begin to tell a full american history, that we can honor the full contributions of african americans to this nation and and hopefully we can go and hopefully in the process we will begin to i'm proud today that facilitate healing, truth, we are and reconciliation. i am creating a proud to say we are creating community of what we currently have 21 member for biden a new community of support. we have an co-chair

it's about anti-, it's about achieving justice so that future generation as our lasting imprint across the national landscape in our contribution is forever remembered. thank you. (applause). that was impressive,

can we have another round of applause for our panel. i told you i had the easy job to do is get out of the way. just some questions for folks. one of the terms that was in black migration we, didn't talk about it today was his notion of push coal in terms of being factors that attracted people to leave but and courage to force people so the folks at the underground railroad can people take a moment or two to inform the audit audience and a push poll component of black migration. >> i'll be brief and implying what i presented is that one of

the pushes i was missed was domestic terrorism and if you really wanted to experience human freedom and it's grandeur it is best to live in a community and a town that would cultivate that and a town where you would know the education that was coming from your school and the turks that you were shipped and the invest we are you mentioned your money in and was 3=