By Logan Monteleone
Business and Distribution Manager
During Monday night’s dialogue titled “Reimagining How and Why We Remember,” Deputy Director of the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience Jaelon Moaney was joined by Brent Leggs, the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in commencing Chesapeake Heartland’s initiative, “Art + Community + History: Creating a Landmark Together.”
Preserving Black heritage sites allows communities to confront their challenging truths and celebrate their culturally significant ones. Organizations like Chesapeake Heartland: An African American Public Humanities Project also believe that this creates a full-picture narrative of American history.
“Through preservation and the power of place, we can rectify historical inequities while also igniting a cultural renaissance,” Leggs said.
The conversation was the first in a series as part of a Maryland State Arts Council-funded project that seeks to engage community members in the creation of a major artwork on the Custom House lawn behind the Starr Center.
“The first expert dialogue of ‘Art + Community + History’ truly underscored the importance of not only making unapologetic strides in reimagining memory keeping, but also protecting progress,” Moaney said.
Leggs commended the work of Moaney and Digital Justice Fellow at the Starr Center Darius Johnson ’15 as rising professionals in the field of Black historic preservation. Leggs also recognized Founder of Blacks of the Chesapeake Vince Legget for his work in preserving historically Black beaches in nearby Annapolis, Md.
“I believe with the leadership that is in this room and across this state that Maryland can set the example for how we build a true national identity that reflects America’s diversity,” Leggs said.
Moaney feels a strong heritage-based connection to Leggs, he said, as they “first bonded over [their] navigation of the world as two young Black men with deep rural roots in border states committed to resisting erasure.”
Leggs is one of the first and only academically trained Black professionals in the area of historical preservation.
Johnson, who is in the process of becoming a professional himself, believes that the number of formally trained historic preservationists who are Black is no more than 1%.
“I’m currently in the final year of my master’s in historic preservation and [Leggs] was a major inspiration for me when I made the decision to pursue it,” Johnson said. “To be recognized by him, alongside Jaelon, makes me feel even more proud and energized by the work that we’re able to do at the Starr Center.”
Johnson said that part of Chesapeake Heartland’s inspiration for a community-based public artwork arose from a recognition of “relatively little collaboration between heritage-based organizations across county lines” despite their “shared history and shared lived experiences.”
Through his work, Johnson hopes to rectify some of the challenges that small community organizations face in gathering the staff and funding necessary to take on preservation projects.
“I think what we learned tonight is that there are multiple approaches to take…[and] we have a multi-layered story to tell with international, national, and local narratives,” Johnson said. “We have to tell that story on a site that is culturally and environmentally sensitive.”
Leggs began his presentation by reading from an afterward he wrote for a book about the Washington-Rosenwald Schools, which were institutions developed for African American children across the South during segregation.
“The work in historic preservation today is to secure the permanence of Black history,” Leggs said.
Leggs said that he realized the power of historic sites in preserving memory and in uplifting the Black community during his research of the schools which, according to the National Trust, represent “the most important initiative to advance Black education in the early 20th century.”
In his presentation, Leggs detailed a list of historic sites saved by the National Advisory Council, including Black professional boxer Joe Fraizer’s gym, the estate of America’s first self-made female millionaire CJ Walker, and the A.G. Gaston motel that housed activists during the Civil Rights movement.
Since its founding in 2017, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has preserved 12 historic sites in perpetuity, secured over $150 million, and invested $30 million in nationwide preservation projects. These numbers, Leggs said, represent the power of preservation in commemorating Black accomplishments made in the face of adversity and inequality in order to create a more socially-just future.
“We can demonstrate together that not until Black history matters will our nation fully honor Black lives: that they are one and the same,” Leggs said.
According to the Chestertown Spy, the series will continue with a virtual discussion on the legacies of systemic racism and slavery and the power of artwork in community healing on Dec. 4. A dialogue on collective memory and controversy in public monuments will be held on Feb. 3.
Additionally, students and community members are encouraged to sign up for the second and final free public art bus tour to Philadelphia on Nov. 23, and to subscribe to the Starr Center’s newsletter for more information and updates.