3 Steps to Powerful Placemaking
Use the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund's commemorative placemaking toolkit to guide your next project.
On May 29th, 2024 the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza opened to the public on the 173rd anniversary of abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth's speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention. Standing in the Universalist Old Stone Church in Akron, Ohio in 1851, Truth helped galvanize the movement to not only abolish slavery, but to fight for women across the country who were denied the right to equality.
To bring the plaza off of the drawing board and into reality involved years of activism, fundraising, and cultivating strong partnerships. Through several years of collaboration, the National Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund acted as a key convener, and a source of funding and technical expertise for the project.
Thanks to additional support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Action Fund team produced a toolkit called, The Future of Commemorative Placemaking which distills key strategies and lessons-learned from the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza into a free, downloadable resource for grassroots preservationists and professionals alike.
"The Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza demonstrates how cultural preservation can protect the legacy and contributions of notable Americans throughout history," said Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "The Akron community’s work will serve as a model for communities across the country."
Keep reading below for a first look at steps you can take to start a placemaking project of your own, and fill out the form to download a free PDF of the full toolkit!
The Future of Commemorative Placemaking
A free, downloadable resource for grassroots preservationists and professionals.
1. Assemble Your Team
Creating the right team—a group of collaborators who share your vision and commitment to honoring history—is critical to your project’s success.
The Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza (STLP) represents years of efforts led by the Sojourner Truth Centennial Suffrage Committee and the Sojourner Truth Project-Akron (chaired by Towanda Mullins) and supported by the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the United Way of Summit & Medina, Summit Metro Parks, artist and sculptor Woodrow Nash, preservation experts, historians, and local community members.
photo by: Brent Leggs
Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza Core Project Team from left to right: Dion J. Harris, Pamela Hickson-Stevenson, Jackie Derrow, Towanda Mullins, Lawana Holland-Moore, Brent Leggs, Lisa King, and Leianne Neff Heppner
2. Engage Your Community
From the beginning of the STLP planning process, the Core Team convened three community engagement sessions and asked participants what they wanted and needed from a space dedicated to Sojourner Truth’s legacy. They expressed a need for a place of gathering and reflection for Akron’s Black community, something they did not currently have, and shared their thoughts on the selection of the artist and design for the statue and plaza. This informed a set of guiding principles for the design and interpretation teams to consider as design plans took shape.
“The entire Akron community is the steward of Truth’s story, and it is theirs to tell. We listened and were intentional about creating a safe, welcoming space and an opportunity to tell their story.”
Lawana Holland-Moore, director of fellowships and interpretive strategies at the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
3. Delve into Design
For the STLP, there had to be a historical connection to the site, in this case the former location of the church where Truth delivered her speech. United Way of Summit & Medina donated the land (their office building’s 10,000 square foot parking lot) and requested an easement for the field behind it to preserve the view when entering downtown Akron, ensuring pride of place.
The plaza's design, developed by landscape architect Dion J. Harris, was directly influenced by the community’s input about their need for an accessible gathering and reflection space. Themes from Sojourner Truth’s life acted as an inspiration for the plaza’s design elements such as the pillars, bronze panels, cast concrete walkway, and the central impala lily representing her Ghanaian heritage.
photo by: Rendering by Dion Harris/GPD Akron
A rendering of the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza courtesy of Dion Harris/GPD Akron.
Ready to Get Started?
The Future of Commemorative Placemaking toolkit will guide you through the six steps the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza project team followed to bring this powerful landscape to life. To learn more, fill out the form to download your free copy of the toolkit, or check out other publications from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund team.
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