Amplifying diverse voices in preservation + design
June 12, 2020 by Caitlin Meives
Let’s cut to the chase. Historic preservation and its allied fields—architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, museums—are predominantly white professions. Preservation as a grassroots movement has also historically been largely white. So, as many of us look to amplify Black voices and broaden our perspectives, the preservation, planning, and design worlds look embarrassingly homogeneous. How can a movement and a profession that lack diverse perspectives, and that specifically lack Black voices, help to advance racial justice?
Fortunately, the preservation and design fields aren’t 100% white. While we desperately need to increase representation in these fields and we need to do a better job of listening to Black communities and partnering with them on preservation efforts, there are several Black and Latinx design, planning, and preservation professionals who are helping push our fields in a positive direction.
Below, I’ve highlighted some of the Black and Latinx people I follow who have helped me grow as a preservation professional and have advanced my knowledge of how I can be a better ally to Black communities and other POC. NOTE: This is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list of all Black, Latinx, or other POC working or advocating in the preservation, planning, and design fields.
Lee Bey
Lee Bey is a photographer, writer, lecturer and consultant whose work deals in the documentation and interpretation of the built environment—and the often complex political, social and racial forces that shape spaces and places.
He was the Keynote speaker at Landmark Society’s 2019 NY Statewide Preservation Conference. But it was his talk at the 2017 National Preservation Conference in Chicago that first lit a fire under me to do more to push preservation forward towards increased diversity and inclusion. You can watch that very talk yourself here. I highly recommend it!
D’Angelo Law Library at the University of Chicago. Image courtesy Lee Bey.
Bey also has a new book out, Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side. Lots of great photography of mid-century modern (and older) buildings.
Lauren Hood
Born and raised in Detroit, Lauren A. Hood brings double consciousness to the practice of community development. Being both a trained practitioner and a lifelong resident, Hood serves as a translator/negotiator between development entities and citizen stakeholders. Through her work as an Equitable Development Strategist, Hood develops engagement frameworks, facilitates dialogues, and creates platforms that allow for the emergence and inclusion of often unrecognized place based expertise in city planning and neighborhood development processes.
Lauren Hood was another voice that was pivotal for me as a preservationist. During a trip to Detroit with the Rust Belt Coalition of Young Preservationists, we met with Lauren to learn about the work she and her neighbors have been doing to preserve and advocate for their neighborhood. One thing she said stuck with me (and I’m paraphrasing here)—that true inclusion is proportional to the amount of time and effort you put in. That if you want your organization, public meeting, or project to truly be inclusive of people from all racial, ethnic, socio-economic, or gender backgrounds, it takes a lot of time building relationships, trust, and performing outreach. A preservation organization (or any other organization) can’t just say “All are welcome” and wipe their hands of it. We have to put the work in.
You can catch Lauren Hood at this year’s NY Statewide Preservation Conference Keynote, which will be held in December. Stay tuned for details!
Hip Hop Architecture Camp and Michael Ford
http://hiphoparchitecture.com/
The Hip Hop Architecture Camp® is a one week intensive experience, designed to introduce under represented youth to architecture, urban planning, creative place making and economic development through the lens of hip hop culture. Michael Ford, the creator and founder of Hip Hop Architecture, is one of the 2-3% of architects nationwide who are Black. Ford is also the design lead on the Universal Hip Hop Museum.
Just this week, Ford announced that he would be resigning from the architecture firm SmithGroup in order to focus his work on diversifying the architecture profession.
As a lover of both hip hop and architecture, it’s my dream to bring the Camp here to Rochester students one day! Be sure to check out Ford’s work and the Camp. Watch his TEDx Talk here. (And send us a note if you’d be interested in helping support something like this with a financial donation or corporate sponsorship.)
Theaster Gates
https://www.theastergates.com/
Theaster Gates lives and works in Chicago. Gates creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, Gates redeems spaces that have been left behind.
I’m a huge admirer of his work and endlessly inspired by it.
Watch his TED talk (above), How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty and art, and you’ll know.
Decay Devils
The Decay Devils are a group of young preservationists based in Gary, Indiana. I had hoped to meet them in person this spring at a Rust Belt Takeover but, alas, COVID foiled our plans. They take an innovative and creative, art-based approach to preservation and community revitalization that I love.
From their website:
The Decay Devils plan to spearhead historic building preservation and restoration efforts in Northwest Indiana and beyond. It is our goal to bring new life and restore beauty, safety, and activity in the places we once looked past or cringed at. Our passion for the renovation and preservation of historical sites led us on adventures across the United States and around the world. We’ve learned more about historic building preservation and possibilities for our own restoration efforts in Rome, Vancouver, New Orleans, and Gary. Through our travels, connections, and partners, we believe that we can be the catalyst for change.
Once we can gather again in person, the YUPs will be working with the Rust Belt Coalition of Young Preservationists to reschedule our Gary Rust Belt Takeover. You won’t want to miss it!
Project Row Houses
Easily one of my favorite preservation projects, Project Row Houses combines the best of everything that preservation can be—the creative reuse of historic building stock, the arts, and community-based support systems. I highly encourage you to learn more about their story and their work. And! Check out the documentary film THIRD WARD TX.
Zulmilena Then and Preserving East New York
https://www.facebook.com/peny.bk/
Zulmilena Then grew up in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2015, her love for historic buildings and community inspired her to form Preserving East New York (PENY), an initiative advocating for the preservation of historic buildings within East New York, the first community affected by the city’s major rezoning plan, a plan with impending consequences on the physical landscape of the neighborhood. Then’s advocacy for her neighborhood has garnered her national attention with recognition as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 40 Under 40, proving that one person’s voice can make a difference.
Zulmilena also works for the Weeksville Heritage Center (@weeksvilleheritagecenter), a multidisciplinary museum dedicated to preserving the history of the 19th century African American community of Weeksville, Brooklyn - one of America’s many free black communities.
Bryan Lee Jr.
Image courtesy National Trust for Historic Preservation
Bryan Lee Jr. is another honoree of the National Trust’s 40 Under 40. Lee is a designer and design justice advocate. He is the founder/director of Colloqate Design, a nonprofit multidisciplinary design practice dedicated to expanding community access to design and creating spaces of racial, social, and cultural equity. Lee most recently served as the place and civic design director for the Arts Council of New Orleans, and prior to that at the 2014 AIA National Firm of the Year, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple (Architecture) in New Orleans.
Lee is the founding organizer of the Design Justice Platform and organized the Design As Protest National day of Action. Additionally, he has led two award-winning architecture and design programs for high school students through the Arts Council (local) and the National Organization of Minority Architects (national), respectively. In 2016, Lee was selected to give a TED Talk and to Keynote at SXSW Eco on Design Justice.
Other folks whose work I’ve been following:
Justin Garrett Moore, AICP - Executive Director of NYS Public Design Commission (as well as other projects)
Architecture is White - This account visualizes racial inequality in architecture.
Pauli Murray Center - The family home of Pauli Murray. The Pauli Murray Family Home in Durham, North Carolina, is associated with ground-breaking civil rights activist, lawyer, educator, writer, and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray. She served as a bridge figure between social movements through her advocacy for both women’s and civil rights.
Lawana Holland-Moore - Works for the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and is starting her own podcast about preservation and underrepresented communities and the stories of the places of meaning within them,
Kristen Jeffers - a.k.a. The Black Urbanist. Jeffers blogs, podcasts, lectures, and writes on design, urban planning, and more! Sign up for her newsletter and learn more on her website, The Black Urbanist.