Nina Simone’s distinctive voice, sultry blend of classical, blues, and gospel music, and penchant for activism have ensured that the artist’s decades-long legacy still endures today.

In recent years, broader recognition of Simone’s significance has included the Oscar-nominated documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? release in 2015; NPR’s inclusion of her 1965 I Put a Spell on You as the number three album on their 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women list; and her 2018 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

But what of the significant physical places in her life? A few years ago, little was known about Simone’s childhood home in Tryon, North Carolina, but in 2017 the fate of this humble, three-room clapboard was permanently altered.

Nina Simone, Activist and Musician

Nina Simone was born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina in 1933. In her childhood home, she developed both a love for the piano and experienced racial discrimination that would shape her world view and social activism later in life. Her mother was a devout Methodist preacher, and her father had worked as an entertainer early in his life. Though the Great Depression undoubtedly affected the family’s beginnings, they still provided Simone with opportunities to strengthen her passion and talent for music.

To thank those who supported the fund, Simone performed her debut recital at the Tryon Library in 1943 at age 11. However, living in a Jim Crow-segregated South, Simone’s parents were forced to give up their seats for white audience members when they arrived at the library. Even then a fierce defender of what she believed to be right, Simone refused to play until her parents were returned to their rightful place in the front row.

Simone’s piano education continued with the aid of the Eunice Waymon Fund, while she attended an all-girls boarding school in Asheville, North Carolina. Following graduation, she moved to New York City in 1950 to attend a summer program at Juilliard and apply for a scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. However, she did not receive the scholarship nor admittance to Curtis—allegedly due to her race. Simone instead worked odd jobs before returning to music as an accompanist, private teacher. Eventually, she began playing piano and singing at a bar in Atlantic City where she changed her name and her career as the High Priestess of Soul was born.

Through the 1960’s, Simone built a reputation for expressing her views on civil rights and the racial injustice experienced by African Americans. She also maintained personal friendships with noted civil rights leaders and activists including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The violence of the Civil Rights Movement, and tragic events such as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, motivated Simone to express her ideas and emotions through explosive live performances and recordings of original songs such as “Mississippi Goddam” and “Four Women,” and acclaimed covers including “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free.”

In recent years, broader recognition of Simone’s significance has included the Oscar-nominated documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? released in 2015; NPR’s inclusion of her 1965 song “I Put a Spell on You” as the number three album on their 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women list; and her 2018 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Simone traveled the world and continued performing for more than four decades before her passing in 2003. She was a motivating and resonant figure for audiences around the world.

A New Future for Nina Simone’s Past

Years later, when Simone’s childhood home had long been empty, it was in danger of demolition. Prior rehabilitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the house went up for sale again in 2017. With the threat of its impending loss, four New York City-based, African American artists sprang into action. Conceptual artist Adam Pendleton, sculptor and painter Rashid Johnson, collagist and filmmaker Ellen Gallagher, and abstract artist Julie Mehretu came together, created an LLC, and bought the home for $95,000.

The artists didn’t have an interest just in Simone’s art—they felt that buying, preserving, and restoring the home was itself a political act, particularly in the wake of prominent movements such as Black Lives Matter and the perpetuation of the racial divide in the United States.

Like Simone, each artist finds ways to connect their work to African American identity and history. Pendleton uses language to re-contextualize history through reappropriated images. Johnson’s work combines “racial and cultural identity, African American history, and mysticism,” according to his biography on Artsy. Gallagher reinterprets advertisements for products targeted towards African Americans. Mehretu creates renderings of urban grids to reexamine cultural definitions of place. The artists plan to apply their collective artistic vision to reinterpret Simone’s home into something that reflects her dynamic, complex legacy, but they can’t do it alone.

With leadership and guidance from the four artists, the National Trust—along with the Nina Simone Project, World Monuments Fund, and North Carolina African American Heritage Commission—is working to preserve Simone’s Tryon home. The National Trust is developing a rehabilitation plan that aligns with the home’s potential future use; identifies future ownership and stewardship models for the site; and creates additional protections to ensure that this symbol of Simone’s early life and legacy will endure for generations to come.