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Washington Post senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan speaks with Brent Leggs, who leads the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, about a recent multi-million-dollar grant to preserve Black churches and better serve the needs of their communities. Conversation recorded on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

• Video available on youtube.com
• Podcast available on washingtonpost.com
• Transcript available on washingtonpost.com

Now a federal holiday, Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when Union Army General Granger issued General Order No. 3 ordering the freedom of over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas.

This Juneteenth, the National Trust for Historic Preservation would like to encourage you to take action for African American cemeteries like Olivewood Cemetery. One of the oldest Black burial grounds in Houston, Texas, Olivewood Cemetery is a 2021 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Grantee, and was named this year to the National Trust’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. It was incorporated in 1875, just a decade after General Order No. 3 was issued on June 19, 1865.

The cemetery includes burials of around 500 people who were alive on that day, the very first Juneteenth. This is the generation of Black leaders who lived through emancipation and Reconstruction and helped to build Houston’s free Black community including schools, parks, and cemeteries like Descendants of Olivewood.

“Black cemeteries are sacred spaces of cultural memory where a nation can honor and remember lives once lived.” Read more via Veranda Magazine.

Show your support for the African American Burial Grounds Preservation Act

Additional Events and Readings this Juneteenth

Save the date and join Thomas Jefferson's Monticello for a special Juneteenth event: “Ascendant: The Power of Descendant Communities to Shape Our Stories, Places, and Future.” This event features over 20 esteemed speakers including African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund National Advisory Council members Darren Walker and Ava DuVernay, and Action Fund executive director and senior vice president of the National Trust Brent Leggs.

Registration is free but required and the event will be live-streamed via Monticello's social media channels.

Read: Absolute Equality: A New Mural Reimagines Public Spaces and the Story of Juneteenth

Read: How the Word Is Passed: A Conversation with Clint Smith

On June 15, 2021, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced that she has awarded a grant of $20 million to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The National Trust is one of 286 organizations across the country and around the globe that will receive a total of $2.7 billion in grants from Ms. Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett.

“This inspiring gift,” said Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the Action Fund, “is an affirmation that our work to elevate the significance of Black culture in American history matters, and that preservation of historic landmarks is a form of equity. We are grateful to Ms. Scott and Mr. Jewett for their investment, which scales up our commitment to preserve and tell overlooked stories of African American achievement that are fundamental to the nation itself.”

Read the press release to learn more, and dive deeper into the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund here.

In the February 2021 issue of Opera News, learn more about Mary Cardwell Dawson, the founder of the longest-running, all-Black opera company in the United States, and the place where her vision took shape: the National Negro Opera Company house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Understanding the current condition of the National Negro Opera Company house is critical at this moment. Standing vacant for decades, the building has deteriorated as a result of weather exposure and vandalism, prompting its listing on the 2020 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

The National Trust has partnered with the NNOC’s owner, Jonnet Solomon, the Young Preservationists Association (YPA), and Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation to help save the building. Together they are utilizing a $4,000 Intervention Fund grant awarded by the National Trust to assess the existing building conditions and prepare a report with recommendations and cost estimates for emergency stabilization.

In a Philadelphia Inquirer article from January 27, 2021, learn more about Philadelphia's efforts to use preservation to promote equity for Black communities.

Philadelphia was one of 10 cities nationwide that the National Trust explored in its October 2020 report, "Preserving African American Places: Growing Preservation's Potential as a Path for Equity." Download the report and its case studies here.