Transcripts For CSPAN3 Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument 20180107

Next, we continue our coverage of this weekends meeting in washington, d. C. You are watching American History tv on cspan3. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us this late on a saturday afternoon. I am the executive director of us icomos. I will describe who we are and set a little context. Welcome to the session on World Heritage and the New Birmingham National Civil rights monument. Joining us today on the panel, we will be doing brief introductions. Glenn eskew from Georgia State university who is coordinating the civil rights World Heritage nomination. Brent leggs, stephen morris, and patricia sullivan. First, a little bit about us icomos and why i am here. While i am listed as the chair of this session, glenn eskew is the architect of this session. I am here to provide context for the significance of the investments of Energy Taking place. Us icomos dates back to 1965. We are one of the 110 or so National Committees of the International Council of monuments and sites. It is an organization based in paris. It is most notable for being the advisor to the u. N. Scientific and Cultural Organization on Cultural Heritage nominations to World Heritage. Im sure you are all roughly familiar with the World Heritage list. Cultural sites, as opposed to natural sites, comprise more than 70 of the more than 1000 sites on the World Heritage list. Sites are those 1000 in the u. S. The vast majority of those our National Heritage sites. Stephen morris will talk more about engagement in the program. Clearly there is tremendous , opportunity for sites of outstanding universal value to be listed, to be recognized in the World Heritage list. Case in point today. That is part of the reason we are here. It is ironic, because it is the same impulses in the mid1960s that led to the creation of us icomos, that led to the creation of icomos, that led to the National Historic preservation act. The same impulses and the same individuals in many cases that can be traced to the origination of the bedrock programs in the states as well as globally. Us icomos, a membershipbased nonprofit based in washington. We work to share the best preservation Heritage Preservation practices with a global audience, similarly, to bring back the best practices from around the globe here to u. S. Conservation practitioners. The civil rights sites, World Heritage nomination and the , Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument are really extraordinarily exciting developments, strongly supported by us icomos. This is, as we all know, this is why you are here today. This is an incredibly important u. S. Story and World Heritage as well. Possessing, again, outstanding universal value in the World Heritage program. I want to point out as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of us icomos, we participated with friends and colleagues around the country with the National Park service to produce the u. S. World heritage gap study report to get to the business of moving the needle on the 23 currently listed World Heritage nominations. Right at the top of the list is this particular nomination. Lastly, i would like to say in the last quarter of this year, i am back from travels in africa and india. This u. S. Story casts a long shadow around the globe and can be traced directly to inspirational heritage stories which are being interpreted both in the case in south africa with the story of Nelson Mandela as well as in the story of Mahatma Gandhi and the liberation of india can be directly traced. It is not hard at all intellectually to create the case for the outstanding universal value of these stories that we will hear more about. There is a certain irony in the withdrawal from unesco that would take place at the end of this year. Us icomos is working to mitigate and reduce the effects of that proposed withdrawal on our engagement in the World Heritage program. We are very optimistic about that. These efforts, coordinated by glenn, are complex but essential to elevating this nations contributions to our shared global heritage. With that, i would like to introduce glenn. Thank you very much. Im going to shut the door. At the end of my remarks, i will share a handout that explains in detail the effort creating the nomination of u. S. Civil rights sites. Good afternoon. Onore i make a few remarks the importance of inscribing locations associated with the Civil Rights Movement in birmingham and elsewhere, i would like to thank james and my colleagues for agreeing to be on the panel. As the director lets see. Hang on. It was working before. As the director of the Georgia State university World Heritage initiative, i scholars and of preservationists developing a list for the World Heritage committee. They called for state parties to update the tentative list for nominations the , first step to being inscribed on the list. The office of International Affairs wanted to fit the global strategy. By 2007, 2 independent efforts in alabama responded by preparing materials for preservation. She compiled the dossier on dexter avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in montgomery, while director Marjorie White compiled dossiers on the 16th street Baptist Church and bethel Baptist Church in birmingham. Since the late 1980s, i have been publishing on the civil rights struggle. I joined marjorie in her efforts to prepare documents to secure National Historic landmarks for bethelth street and Baptist Churches. When she turned her attention to the World Heritage list in 2007, i was brought along as a consultant. The National Park service combined the three churches as the beginning of a serial nomination for u. S. Civil rights sites and in 2008 added them to the u. S. Tentative list for the World Heritage committee. After that, the efforts stalled until late 2016 when alabama contracted with Georgia State university to launch the World Heritage initiative to develop the serial nomination of u. S. Civil rights sites. Crafting a statement of outstanding universal value their plates to appropriate sites for nomination is a daunting task. More than 70 scholars for the modern Civil Rights Movement have been consulted, along with distort preservationists from the various southern states. Last april, we gathered many of them at a symposium held on the Georgia State University Campus in atlanta. The scope of the serial nomination and whether or not to consider discrimination in general or specifically around the historical discrimination against African Americans. Other issues offered challenges as some scholars today argue for long Civil Rights Movement that lacks a clear chronology, while others recognize the 1950s and 1960s as a modern Civil Rights Movement. We decided to focus the serial nomination on the struggle to overturn racial segregation and secondclass citizenship in the areas targeted by the modern africanamerican freedom struggle. To justify that, we cited three studies conducted by the National Park service. Civil rights in america, racial desegregation in education, desegregation in public accommodations and voting , rights. We also considered the 2008 civil rights in america a framework for identifying significant sites. Using these nps studies and recommendations i scholars and preservationists, we developed a list of more than 100 Historic Sites related to the race Reform Movement in the postwar era that received some level of federal designation, with the highest being that of National Historic landmark. This compilation serves as the basis of our working list for potential sites for consideration to propose for inscription on the World Heritage list. While in atlanta the symposium , attendees debated the consideration of the movement, taking into consideration the responses of a larger group of scholars who had been consulted and asked to identify sites that they thought of as most important in telling the story of the movement. As the various gap studies make clear, the World Heritage committee is eager to increase on the list the number of sites of conscious and memory that bear witness to human rights abuses including genocide , slavery, and violations of freedom. A site of conscious is a public site, museum, or memorial that serves as a place of memory of a difficult past used to relate with contemporary issues. The castles of the slave trade in ghana, the auschwitz extermination camp in poland were among the earliest places that were inscribed as sites of conscience. Given the nature of the struggle for Racial Justice in america and because many of the properties are visited by civil rights programs around the rights programs around the world, these Historic Places in the United States joined other global sites of conscious. As such, they serve, like the Transatlantic Slave Trade sites in Rio De Janeiro and the island off the coast of senegal, as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation. Like Robben Island off cape town where south africa imprisoned antiapartheid activists, they stand witness to the triumph of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism. And like Independence Hall in philadelphia where the Founding Fathers framed a republic based on equality for all, they represent the universal principles of freedom and democracy. The serial nomination represents the fight of black people in the United States against racial segregation and for firstclass citizenship. With equal access to the american system and it is organized around World Heritage criteria 2, 3, and 6. The interchange of idea argues the racially separate and unequal spaces resulted in conflicts over White Supremacy and racial equality. African americans protested against prescriptions in the landscape that partitioned black from white in order to gain equal access to public accommodations in such places as theaters, hotels, restaurants, and transportation on buses, trains, and planes. Civil rights organizations filed lawsuits against state and local governments to dismantle separate and unequal schools and remove the emblematic jim crow white colored signs from public parks and facilities , thereby dismantling the separate entrances to buildings and demarcated inequalities in the built environment. Though, in some cases, shadows of this racialized past remain. Demands for black political empowerment convinced the federal government to end the measures and secure black Voting Rights in the south. As a blackowned Institution Representative of the community and symbolic of alternative spaces to White Supremacy the , africanamerican church housed the modern movement, provided most of the leadership and supporters, and nurtured a cultural tradition of resistance to White Supremacy that began in slavery and continues through activism such as black lives matter. Demonstrating criteria three, testimony to cultural tradition, the modern movement challenged light beliefs in exceptionalism and privilege with a counter narrative that upheld the ideas of democracy and human rights as enshrined in the u. S. Declaration of independence, the u. S. Constitution, and the universal declaration of human rights. During the 1950s and 1960s, africanamericans staged a series of protests over Racial Discrimination in the public sphere through events like the montgomery bus boycott of 1955 to 1956, the greensboro citizens sitins the freedom rides in 1960, 1961. In 1963 birmingham demonstrations and the march on washington. The Voting Rights campaigns. Culminating in the selma to montgomery march in 1965. The montgomery fight for Economic Justice and the 1968 poor peoples campaign. The properties of the serial nomination represent criteria six, universal significance, the challenge to the color line of these particular places led to such reforms as the brown versus the board of education decision of 1954 which resulted in the desegregation of public schools. The congressional Civil Rights Act of 1964 which opened public accommodations to all regardless of race. The Voting Rights act of 1960 five, which provided African Americans equal access to the political system. And the 1968 Fair Housing Act to end discrimination in housing. All civil rights sites find their origins in an environment of racial segregation. Because the protests at these sites resulted in the toppling of legal White Supremacy and drew global attention the historic , landmarks rise above the rest as events of universal significance that ushered in an american ideology of racial equality and human rights struggles the world over. Integral to the serial nomination of u. S. Sites are the places in birmingham associated with the new National Monument. Already on the tentative list, the Baptist Church contributed many of the members for the Alabama Christian Movement for human rights that staged the bus boycotts, advocated for desegregated schools, supported the sitins in the 1960s, and led the Birmingham Campaign in 1963. Because it symbolized the judges the less movement, the ku klux klan targeted the alabama baptist with the bombing that killed 4 black girls getting ready for sunday school in 1963. The previous spring, 16th street had housed protests prior to the demonstrations across the street. These two churches anchor the related sites including the Ag Gaston Motel and others that comprised the boundaries of the New Birmingham National Civil rights monument. We will hear more about that in just a minute. Let me hand out this brochure. Good afternoon. My name is brent leggs. I work for the National Trust for Historic Preservation based in washington, d. C. I am the director of the africanamerican Cultural Heritage action fund and an assistant professor at graduate Preservation Program at the university of maryland. I thought i would start by sharing my personal story. I am a Historic Preservation practitioner. Certainly different from a traditional historian. I am from a little place called paducah, kentucky. We did not talk about the value of preserving Old Buildings around the dinner table. When i went to the university of kentucky and graduated with an mba, i was searching for my professional identity and thought i will get a phd in history. I thought about getting a phd in philosophy and realized you had to be fluent in a second language, so i scrapped that. Then i learned there is a furniture making class in the school of architecture, and i thought it would be cool to use my creative spirit. I ran into the dean of the graduate Preservation Program and he convinced me to go into the graduate Preservation Program. For my research assistantship, they asked me to conduct an inventory of rosenwald schools in my home state of kentucky. Have you heard of rosenwald schools . It is a Massive School Building Program developed by booker t. Washington at Tuskegee University and funded by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald who was at that time the president of sears and roebuck. They constructed 5000 schools in 15 southern states. They are literally the physical manifestation and response to a social movement, crisis of a social movement, in black education. During the process, i learned my mom and dad went to rosenwald schools and i had a connection to the past like never before. I remember walking into a School Building and i had the multi sensory experience. I can see and touch and smell and hear the creaking floorboards. I started to realize there was a transcendent quality about Historic Preservation. That is what i want to talk to you about today. The National Trust, our Signature Program is called National Treasures. It is about six years in the making. It is where the National Trust partners with community and Property Owners for generally between two to five years to remove an impending threat to a nationally significant building and identify solutions for the preservation of those places. I want to give you a quick overview of some of the African American Treasure Campaigns. The stadium in patterson, new jersey, this is the home field of larry who integrated Major League Baseball three months after jackie robinson. Im proud to say that through the National Treasure campaign , we designated it as a National Historic landmark and included it in the boundaries of the National Park. And it is now preserved in perpetuity. Founders library at Howard University in washington, d. C. What i love about this space is that it was designed by an early pioneering black architect who was a University Architect for decades at Howard University. But it has i ¿at one point, howards law school was housed inside this building. This is where Charles Hamilton houston and Thurgood Marshall devised a legal strategy that would lead to the integration of americas public schools. Working with the university to develop a plan to eimagine this Outdated Library space. Polly mary, how many of ou have heard of it . I learned a polly mary two years ago. A polly mary two years ago. This woman, who was raised in north carolina, would be a cofounder of the National Organization of women, the first africanamerican episcopal site. Thurgood marshall referred to her work as the bible of to develop a reuse strategy. The plan is to convert this into the polly mary center for s justice. We supported them in restoring the exterior of the building. Madam cj walker. How many of you have heard of madam cj walker . Madam cj walker is americas first selfmade female millionaire. She created a formula to help africanamerican womens hair grow and be healthy. She would first selfmade female train 23,000 sales agents and workers in the United States, south america, and the caribbean in 1918 before women had a right to vote. She built a monument in new york, the most expensive zip code in the United States. This is on the same street as letters. The National Trust in may 2017 provided exterior and partial nterior protection to ensure that it is preserved forever. These are 2 of the newest National Treasure campaigns. Claiborne temple where dr. King had his last stands with the sanitation workers march. The Community Center in chicago, one of the last buildings from the Public Works Administration when they funded the creation of several Community Arts the Public Works Administration centers around the United States. Birmingham. We have the good fortune to partner with the city of birmingham in 2015. We were introduced to this project by r. A doctor at the africanamerican museum of culture. And that National Birmingham civil rights institute. They wanted to make the National Trust aware of an impending threat to partially demolish half of the aging gaston the aging gaston the gaston the aging gaston the the Ag Gaston Motel. If you look to the far right, the city has proposed to develop what they were calling the freedom center. A lecture hall, so they could attract visitors from across the nine at states to have conversations about the United States to have conversations about the civil rights legacy. Wayne wanted to help we wanted to help secure national recognition. You cannot destroy and demolish a building of this significance, especially if africanamerican museum of your vision is to secure that level of international recognition. As beautiful as this concept is, and it speaks o the potential of reuse, that they shifted their plan. The 10 million the city had bonded for the new construction is being used to fully restore the entire Ag Gaston Motel building. I love these images. This is from the spring of 1963. It is dr. King and the foot soldiers where they convened project c from the courtyard of the Ag Gaston Motel. It was constructed in 1954 by the most prominent africanamerican business professional of the day. He had several businesses. This was one of his iconic masterpieces. I bet he never imagined when he built this in 1954 in the spring of 1963 the american Civil Rights Movement would occupy the entire motel. The other image is from may 10, 1963. This is the truce between white Business Leaders and the ivil rights leaders to end the mass protest demonstration of mass protest demonstration of that spring. As we started to work with coalition to grade that National Monument, what is he significance . What story where we looking to ell by preserving the motel . As you heard from glenn and will, the significance in birmingham is 1963 and 1960 four. It is those activities that would integrate birminghams public life and be a catalyst for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The image on the they shifted their plan. The left is ag gaston. The other image is fred shuttlesworth. Birmingham. Of course, the National Trust of Historic Preservation and we had to work with the National Park service, the department of the interior, and support from the National Parks conservation association. These are the buildings included within the boundaries of the new National Monument. Congresswoman terry so was the terri sewell started the left is ag gaston. The other process for creating the National Monument. I have to give her a shout out. She is probably the most significant congressional leader at this moment to advocate for funding in the preservation of civil National Monument. I have to rights landmarks in alabama and across the United States and the civil rights funding from the National Park service for the last two years was secured because of her leadership. As you heard from glenn, bethel Baptist Church. Kelly ingram park, where a lot of the protests took place. If you isit birmingham and tour the park, they have done a good job of leveraging our to interpret the story. This building hosted the black professionals of the park, they have done a good job ay, from the dentist, to the lawyer, to the naacp. What i think is powerful about this story is that this building was designed by robert taylor, americas first professional black architect. The first black graduate from m. I. T. Would help to start the Architecture Program at Tuskegee University. This is one of the finest examples of urban commercial design in the United States and retained a significant level of architectural integrity. It has been vacant for 20 years and the Property Owners are entering into a codevelopment agreement to redevelop the site. Sixteenth street Baptist Church. We all know about the events that happen there in september of 1963. The esserknown story is that this building was designed by rachel wallace, the second professional black architect in america. One of his best examples of both residential and religious architecture. We have been working with the church, not only in creating the National Monument, but building was designed by rachel helping them to reimagine reuse of the building which they would like to turn into an interpretive center. Birmingham civil rights institute. If you have not had a chance to tour this space, i hope you do. 58,000 squarefoot museum. There is celebrating their 25th anniversary. Even though they are not technically historic, the building, you need to be 50 years to be historic, they received special consideration because of their leadership as helping them to reimagine reuse an anchoring institution across an anchoring institution across the district. This building was designed by max bond, a Second Generation of pioneering black architects. I have yet to find a commercial district in the United States with the diversity of significant Historic Buildings that have been designed by black architects that tell the story of activism, black architecture, as well as achievement. Even though the gaston Office Building is not included within the proclamation and considered a contributing structure as part of the National Monument, it is considered nationally significant as part of the civil rights historic district. I wanted to show you this building. This is where ag gaston had the headquarters for his business is constructed in 1960. The finest example of midcentury architecture in irmingham. It is vacant and we are supporting the Property Owner in developing a preservation plan for its reuse. Some of the keys to uccess, the first thing that we needed to do was complete a Historic Structures report. For those who dont know what a hsr is, it is the bible of the building. It assesses the change over time. It evaluates the historical fabric within a building. It includes structural, environmental, and cost assessments. This was key to make an argument to the National Park service that the building was significant and worthy of being included as a unit of the National Parks system. We work with a consultant to prepare reuse study and business plan. The National Park service is struggling to respond to years of deferred maintenance in the billions. They are looking for innovative and Creative Partnership models. We wanted to advocate for a costewardship agreement. The solution is that the National Park service all of the 1954 section of the motel. Birmingham retains ownership of the 1968 version of the motel. They will share the stewardship responsibility of caring for the site in perpetuity. Reating the National Monument, you cannot do this without having by and from the public, locally and nationally. We created a sophisticated Public Relations campaign that included the march for birmingham, which was on august 28 last year. Initial planning for the march in washington took place in the Ag Gaston Motel. We saw synergy in those events in birmingham. It is to remind citizens about the rich history that surrounds them. It was a fun event. We marched around the civil rights district and concluded with a oncert by grammy awardwinning artists. In closing, i want to share good news. The National Rust in november of 2017 launched a new initiative called the africanamerican Cultural Heritage action fund. We are committed to raising 25 million to preserve african Historic Places in the United States and our own programmatic work to do more of what i just showed. We would love to continue to identify new National Treasures that allow us to tell the full american story, to scale up work that helps youth learn preservation trade skills, to expand the interpretation of black history and our own collection of sites, and create a 12 million ational Grant Program to support the preservation of these important cultural landscapes and projects that are some of the most underfunded in the country. If ou have a project in mind, our window for receiving letters of inquiry poses on january 31. You can go to our website. Thanks, so much. [applause] i do not have a powerpoint. You will just have to look at this slide for the next 15 minutes or so. My name is stephen morris, chief of the International Affairs office for the National Park service. I think that my role is to discuss the World Heritage program itself, and how it works in the United States, and give you background. Let me say that i think that our office, you will just have to look at the International Affairs the International Affairs office at the National Park service, came into contact with r. Eskew in 20062007. It is a pleasure to see it gaining team now. The World Heritage convention is an International Treaty that was adopted by the conference of unesco in 1972. Onference of unesco in 1972. The United States was the first to sign the treaty in 1973 in the nexen administration. Currently, i think every country in the planet has igned up. It is the most Successful International the United States was the first conservation treaty in existence. The World Heritage omination is made by the government of the United States. There is a formal process for making decisions about what to include in a nomination and whether or when to make a nomination. There is very little funding in the National Park service to support development. There is really no funding. Theres funding for my office for oversight and guidance, but nominations have to raise the funds and develop the nominations. Dr. Eskew and the support he is getting from alabama is making this possible. The assistant for a National Heritage program is a political appointee. Folks in my office that work in this program are career employees. As i mentioned, our role is at the staff office for the program and to oversee the development of nominations. The outcome of a nomination is decided by the World Heritage committee, 21 countries that are elected on a rotating basis. They meet once a year to review proposals from all over the world that has been submitted by their respective governments. In the cases of ultural sites that are proposed, as was mentioned, the International Council on monuments and sites advises the committee on whether the nomination submitted meet the criteria and should be added to the World Heritage list. A World Heritage nomination must define the outstanding universal value, ouv, that shows how the nominated properties as a group have global significance, particularly for serial proposed, as was mentioned, the nominations. As it is being proposed for the civil rights nomination. It must Show Properties included are critical to the global significance. Obviously, this will be a much Smaller Group then all properties associated with the Civil Rights Movement, of which there are probably several hundred or maybe even 1000. We will be focusing on he key properties, a small group of 1012. Not even the group of 1012. Not even the most important in any given tate. The World Heritage selection criteria works differently than those for the National Register of Historic Places or at the National Historic Landmarks Program in the u. S. One of the challenges is they make it difficult to nominate properties solely on the important ideas. Lisa and dr. Eskews presentation using different criteria to make the case. Making the case that hatever properties are selected to be included together have global significance and can respond to the criteria. There are a umber of challenges. Dr. Eskew referred to defining the Civil Rights Movement in time and geography. What phase of the Civil Rights Movement will we focus on . We need to be able to make a clear rationale as to why we are focusing on that hase and not a longer period of history. The nomination needs to describe the outstanding universal value in a way that meets criteria that looks beyond u. S. History alone and does not take for granted how it is viewed around the world. I think this, in terms of not taking it for granted, eeds to go beyond just celebrating this accomplishment of what happened as a result of the movement. It needs to be sensitive to how the movement itself was influenced by what was going on in other countries and how there was a reciprocal influence to other countries from the Civil Rights Movement in the u. S. In relation, the nomination needs a detailed comparative analysis that looks at other places around the world with similar values ights movement in time and related to human Rights Movements or do you solve Robben Island and some of the other sites of conscience, and perhaps the womens suffrage movement. Other social movements can be compared to the Civil Rights Movement be a clear criteria to identify properties that contribute mostmovement in the United States . There needs to be a comparative framework for international significance. There needs to strongly to the global significance of the series. It must contain a justification for why each property is included. And also, properties not included that others may think are included, we have to justify why they were not included. We have learned difficult lessons working on another serial nomination in terms of being questioned on the selection of the properties. We need to have a very convincing case as to why Certain Properties were included and others were not. The other factors in selecting the Properties Include national significancwe, the owners all have to agree in writing to having their properties ncluded , there must be High Integrity and authenticity. If the property has been significantly altered, that will be a problem here this setting has to be included. Not just the building. It has to include the setting around it. There has to be strong legal protection. This is a high bar for including properties. Additionally, properties have to develop and articulate an active Management System among themselves linked to the outstanding universal value. The nature of the system will related to human rights depend on which properties are included, how they are run, etc. We need to define how and by whom the system will be maintained. For the other serial nomination we are working on day have an association of all of the owners of the buildings that have essentially incorporated under a 501 c 3 . We will need to see what kind of system we can document to show that these properties, since they will be a single World Heritage site, the World Heritage committee expects them to be managed as a group. The individual sites will need to have their own management plans as well that focus on reserving the elements that support the outstanding universal value. To give you a sense of the process, our office recommends that dr. Eskew and his team get advice from the National Secretariat of like a mouse of ikecomos. We need early and put from the International Council on monuments and sites to make ure they are on board with the property selected. After this, the department of the interior must approve adding other sites e they are on board with the property selected. This, the department of the interior must approve adding other sites to the candidate list. There is a separate process for adding sites to that tentative list. Has beens group included on the tentative list, withsistant secretary the advice of the federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage, may consider formally authorizing preparation for a World Heritage nomination. That is the preparation of nomination. Probably a year or more down the road for nomination like this. The previous work that has been going on now is considered unofficial. This nomination has not been officially blessed. When the nomination has been drafted with input and advice from my office and the Interagency Panel, they will aet again to make recommendation to the assistant secretary as to whether it submitted. When a nomination is submitted, the World Heritage center since the document to icomos to conduct a detailed review, including site visits to all of the properties. Icomos will make a recommendation to the World Heritage committee whether to approve a nomination or recommend that it is approved. It is a daunting process. It takes years to develop the nominations and a significant amount of money. It is not a foregone conclusion that what the United States nominates will be automatically inscribed on the World Heritage list. Over the 30 years of nominations made by the u. S. , we had several very which is disappointing to the people that have put so much time and effort into it. It is a very challenging process, but i think that there to tryod team in place to get this one going to get this one going. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be a success. [applause] good afternoon. I am patricia sullivan. I have participated as a historical advisor on this project and was at the meeting of historians and preservationists to think about how we define civil rights and identify properties to be nominated for this designation. My comments this afternoon, for me as a teacher, historian, Civil Rights Movement, i am thinking about, what was the Civil Rights Movement about, significance . Being a part of this process, thinking about the global significance, this moment has been rewarding and helped me to pull together many of the projects i worked on over my academic career. I have a few comments that opens the lens and helps us think about, what was the Civil Rights Movement . You see it as images that unfold over a decade. The American Civil Rights a historically defined event, was centered in the southern United States. They organized in opposition to the legally mandated racial caste and disenfranchisement. It rose to International Prominence in the 1950s and 1960s and secure the most legislative achievements of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 1965, politics inamerican a significant way. , and i wasltaneously on a panel this morning, about the Kerner Commission report. The north ands west and entrenched segregation came to the fore. And defined the latter part of the 1960s. The civil marking Rights Movement ended marking and thetive politics beginnings of a mass incarceration state which we are aware of thanks to the number of major works. In light of the president social, political, and racial on the civilfocus Rights Movement and the global significance is timely. The significance of the Civil Rights Movement resides in a transformative power of a movement built on a vision of justice, human rights, and freedom that unfolded across the middle decade of the 20th changed america in fundamental ways, even as it exposed americas racist past. It maintained a power as struggle for civil rights and justice endure. Stations marked the places where ideas about justice, equality and human rights that resisted the cast system that had grown up in the south. As Civil Rights Activist Martha Noonan has commented, from out of current perspective and the way we teach about this history, the movement seems probable, almost inevitable. From the Vantage Point of 1940s america it seems unimaginable. Places are central to telling the story of how such a movement , organized and articulated and how it was contested and sustained. Sort of casting it in a different historical frame. It is useful to think of two periods, 1930s to 1954 and from the mid50s to roughly 1968. A book published put five years ago, race and democracy, in the introduction, said it is usual to think this early period as the first act in a two act play. Delighted to see howard. Niversity i think this has gotten lost in here we have a space, a place the rolecan talk about of charles houston and Thurgood Marshall. Their foundational roles in the u. S. Civil Rights Movement. The understood as human desire for justice represents a powerful drive. The lawsle of defining in society. At a time when there were only a handful of wellprepared black lawyers in the entire south, trials houston really changed, transformed howard into a laboratory for civil rights law. Stanley nelson has a wonderful film about black colleges called tell them we are rising. He talks about howard as an incubator of the Civil Rights Movement. A place where young black men in the 1930s had a physical and intellectual space to prepare for protracted assault from jim crow. Houstons effort, we dont want to lose sight of what is happening during this period and think about ways to capture this during the 1930s and 1940s. This is part of a broader democratic struggle of the new deal era, where people in the margins of american politics came in and helped to shape the reach of the democratic reforms of that period. A student activist, labor organizers. They connected. They had sort of a global perspective on things. These parallel activities and movements were part of the environment that shaped the Civil Rights Movement during these formative years. I teach in columbia, South Carolina. There is a major site where a number of these individuals came together in 1946. October, 1946. 1800 students, black and white, met in Columbia South carolina in the township auditorium. Bob dylan had a recent concert there coming through town. In the words of Conference Organizer Louis Burnham to , complete the task begun by our forefathers during the civil war and reconstruction period. Their keynote speaker was w. E. B. Dubois, a key architect of civil rights struggles in this country, and someone connected to friends across the world. He delivered a speech at benedict college. Africanamerican colleges come up as so important in laying the foundation of being displaced being the place where people can come together. He looked too young people in the region to expose the barbarities that prevailed. He urged them to lift the better lift the banner of humanity and face each other as equal independent human beings, if it takes all of your lives, and the lives of your childrens children. This is called the long haul. Du bois noted that while democracy was a sham in the allied world he talked about the restoration of colonialism in the wake of world war ii, and rake racial segregation in the United States. Said here in the south, laid the path to a greater and freer world. That, just tying in with the global significance, dubois submitted a petition to the u. N. A statement of denial of human rights to minorities in the case of citizens of negro dissen descent and appeal to the United Nations for redress. Claiming a Global Platform for demanding human rights, and exposing the denial of those rights here. The history that is lost maybe in this backlash and repression of the cold war years i should. I should mention Louis Burnham was situated in birmingham. In 1951, dubois himself was arrested and handcuffed by the District Department for his activities in the peace institute. Birmingham has been a center previous to the 1960s. These activists are such an important part of history. , andignificance of houston he was very much embraced and sustained by these other activities. The legal struggle carried forward under the radar in court. Robert carter talked about the court as a theater where africanamericans would come into these spaces, like jackson , mississippi in 1947, and watch an africanamerican lawyer interrogate a School Superintendent and find later the scenes reenacted in barbershops and pool halls and the rest. These spaces that facilitated this kind of activity was foundational to what followed. With that regard, this bridge from the work they did in the 1930s and 1940s. Clarendon county was a community that responded to the efforts of houston. Thurgood marshall took over as director of the legal effort. Someone who teaches in South Carolina Clarendon County is so important. It was the first case tried in a series of cases that comprised brown. It came out of a black belt county. Very poor, majority black. For these families to go into court and make demands for their children really risked everything. Everyone lost their livelihoods. And you risked your lives as well. It was a great scene, as Thurgood Marshall describes, outside the federal courthouse in charleston. A beautiful building, still there, where they are trying the briggs case. This is in 1951. They arrive in the morning i wish i had a slide of this beautiful courthouse. Lawyers arrived, and 500 people are lined up down the stairs, out and around the courtroom building. This is the end of may. They stood there all day while the lawyers trying to their case. They acted as a human telegraph. The lawyer made a good point, it would travel out of the group. Marshall said later seeing these people waiting in the heat all day, he knew they were going to win, because the people would carry on. They would continue to demand as lawyers took these cases up to the supreme court. A quote from marshall, negroes from Clarendon County jammed shoulder to shoulder , to show to the world that they are determined to eliminate segregation from american life. The brown ruling followed three years later, and was a culmination of this decadelong battle rooted in communities along the south and energized by the politics of the 1930s and 1940s. We moved to the most people know brown but the legacy of but the legacy of brown and how , it is documented is essential in telling the story within our own communities and country and globally. It is a powerful and enduring lesson. The sites that have been selected and proposed resonate with some of the major titles of the Southern Movement that are wellknown. The montgomery bus boycott. The importance of the churches. If you seen stanley nelsons film on freedom summer, mass meetings, albany is being the place where the music of the , coming out of these sacred spaces and places. When we look at the sites, we talk about heritage, and to be reminded as we interpret these spaces. Thank you about the 16th street Baptist Church bombing just weeks after the march on washington. We talk about terror. The terror people faced, the struggle, the violence, it really underscores the remarkable nature and the power of this movement and where it came from. You look at individuals who. Bserve the south James Baldwin goes south after the brown decision, after he sees young people walking through mobs. One or two black students admitted to a school and walking through mobs just go to school. He had to understand how families can do that. He traveled south in 57 and talked to some families. The sit in movement in 1960 amplified the struggle. That is an aspect of the people whoe know about the Civil Rights Movement, that really stands out. A lot of great visuals and films and accounts of what happened there. I think this period leading up to birmingham, which is such a critical turning point for the country in every way, to think about the ad and flow, what it took and what people experienced when they went into these places. The role of colleges. When the citians happened, four students, one day, just going. Several more hundreds and spreading to 48 cities within six weeks. A Time Magazine reporter saw this and said all over the south students were on the march and a nonviolent movement, the likes of which the United States has never seen before. Where is it coming from . Black colleges. The students, they would find people and go talk to them. One reporter concludes if you want to stop it you have to close down these colleges. That are alaces central. Rides, thinking about the legal and mass protest, theres a court ision area to story is so the courts were the central part. Virginia, the Thurgood Marshall case overturned segregation to open the way for court. A second ride after an earlier court decision. By 1961, the time was ripe, and the trailways bus station with a massive violent encounter outside of that space which now is a National Site and a terrific these em. That is 1961. There has been activity all over the south. Many places, pivotal places that can show turning points. Elevation of the movement beyond the local. Of mississippi and the desegregation in 1962, very important, spotlighting the violence and lawlessness all the way up to the governor. An Important Movement in educating the Kennedy Administration about what they were facing in the south. 1963,irmingham, in early it should be mentioned that dr. King said, i think the stories over. The country has lost interest. Calvin truman went back to report for Time Magazine. The person he was replacing said, this story is done. The country did not just grab onto this. All of these instances, public attention. But birmingham was tremendously important. What happened there . What was broadcast across the country and the world, and the reactions of africanamerican communities across the country . There were hundreds of protests in the wake of birmingham. North, west, and south. For the kennedys, there was this concern, and rightly so. James baldwin had published the fire next time, warning that time was running out. The explosive nature of those living under segregation. Birmingham really amplifies that. Robert kennedy and others who were aware enough helped mobilize the kind of energy they needed to begin to push for civil rights bill. John f. Kennedy gives a remarkable speech on june 11, 1963, preparing to introduce the civil rights bill. He talks about the national dimensions of racial inequality. Talks about over 100 years of delay since the emancipation proclamation, the slaves not yet the descendents of slaves are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. For all its hopes and boats, and its boasts this nation , will not be fully free until all of its citizens are free. Of course, that night after midnight medgar evers is gunned , down in his driveway in jackson, mississippi. That summer, john f. Kennedy, who like many in his generation, had been brought up in the Dunning School to reconstruction, that it was a tragedy, after medgar evers was assassinated, said, oh my goodness, i believe Thaddeus Stevens was correct. The radical republican who said you have to enforce the meaning of freedom. That summer we marched forward. Danville, cities all over the country, its explosive. People are not going to wait much longer. Getting a bill through Congress Takes time. March on washington, amazing moment. The bombing of the 16th street Baptist Church, killing those four girls. Passedil rights bill is in july of 1964. That is the summer of freedom summer and civil rights workers killed at the beginning of that summer. Is so significant, beyond this moment, the capacity of people to carry on and continue to fight for this and risk so much to create the change. Theres more that follows. The Voting Rights act, some of march, montgomery to soma and the passing of the Voting Rights act is really the culminating moment for the Civil Rights Movement in this country in terms of change, getting laws that enforce the 14th and 15th amendment and secure the promises reconstruction at that level. You have the country moving in reaction to demands beyond the south to face the long problems of segregation, unequal schools, Police Brutality and the rest. What happened to the Civil Rights Movement . The Civil Rights Movement moved north. There are many great studies that show in the aftermath of the Voting Rights act, people in southern communities are empowered into voting, war on poverty programs, transforming the face of the south and the political climate. Again, changing the country in ways it was still grappling with. I want to close with a quote from August Wilson that i use quite often. I think its a reminder to all of us to turn our sites south in terms of our history, the countrys history and in terms of enduring struggle for justice and human rights and what it takes and the nature of change, the fact that each generation inherits the courage to carry forward. 1991. Tioned to this in he was directing his comments to young africanamericans. I think it applied to all of us who are interested and concerned about the struggle for justice and human rights, and the significance of this southernbased movement. Black americans need to go back and make the connection that we allowed to be severed when we move from the south to the north. For the most part the culture , growing in the southern part of the United States for 200 some years we more or less abandoned. We have a situation where kids dont know who they are because they cant make a connection with their grandparents, and therefore their connection with their political history in history inpolitical america. Thank you. [applause] now we do have about 10 minutes for some q a, if we have any. Lets thank our panelists for taking us through the presentation and reemphasizing and really emphasizing for us today reemphasizing the , incredible importance of elevating and stewarding these compelling stories, and how tools like the World Heritage list, the National Monuments program designation, the National Treasurers program, the africanamerican Heritage Cultural action fund, are really incredibly valuable tools toward that end. Do we have any questions . I would remind you we are being televised live, so if you have a question or comment, please come to the mic so you can be heard clearly. Please come to the mic in the aisle. I really admire could you identify yourself . David blasberg from umass amherst. I admired the chronological focus and geographical focus, which as i know required in this nomination. Also what i admire is the way you use this to exemplify something much larger and more global. This echoes what Stephen Morrison said. You have someone that goes to jail because he does not want to pay his poll tax to expand slavery. Gandhi is inspired by thoreau. Who then inspires Martin Luther king. All of these African Leaders who are also pushing for decolonization at the same period the American Civil Rights is doing it thing. There is this global conversation that can very nicely show how this birmingham, in two years and a couple square miles, really exemplifies. Hopefully you will be doing that in the nomination. Would you care to respond . That is dirty business. That is an excellent observation. You succinctly connected those strands of protest. Is Civil Rights Movement is informed by the struggles in india, which were informed by the resistance of thoreau, or the efficacy of tolstoy and other proponents of nonviolent resistance. Out of birmingham will come support for other nonviolent protests around the globe. The Civil Rights Movement is being seen as being inspirational to protests into the 1980s and 1990s. With the tearing of the berlin wall or the protests in tiananmen square. For the streets of birmingham to be the site in america that protest was brought home to the world is a really significant thing. Do you want to add on to the rationale why you would therefore then create Something Like a National Rights monument in birmingham . I was thinking, what are the opportunities for identifying the resources, both nationally and internationally, to sustain the stewardship of these cultural landscapes . I think there are a lot of scholars at this table and the conference that fully understands the depth and beauty and complexity of this history. We need more advocates with the resources that can help us on the preservation side of things. When you were discussing the need for stewardship planning, and a coalition of partners for these spaces, the National Trust would love to help convene and organize that with partners, again nationally and internationally. So if you know of those, please let me know. Do we have another question or comment . Please. My name is anna kaplan. I am a phd student at american university. The history of people of color in the United States is frought with losses in addition to games. I was wondering if there are any programs to preserve spaces of absence, not where things were lost, but where things were never there to begin with. Ms. Sullivan that is, i think, a really important observation. You think of doing oral histories. Who do we talk to . We talked to people who remember. I was at a meeting once for an oral history project. What about the people that were traumatized by their experience of the movement . I think it is very important to think about how to do that. There is an interpreter frame, right . That could be included. As i studied this history, it is inspiring but also the loss, the , tragedy, what it took. That needs to be part of the story. That amplifies the significance of what was gained. I appreciate that question. All of us involved in this work need to think about ways to do that. I was just going to add, this is sort of a commercial for an upcoming conference in charlottesville in march, on best practices in interpreting the legacy of slavery. It is not exactly responding to the question that you have, but the presentations it is being sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson foundation, university of virginia. It will run the gamut coming of to the modern era. Intangible heritage will definitely be part of the presentations. That may be a place to go to hear more about whats going on. Ms. Sullivan one other thing to add on is that in april, the equal Justice Initiative on lynching will open in montgomery, cataloging the atrocities that took place throughout the south. I think that is a part of responding to her,. It seems in a way such a challenge to think about movement that is so complex it has so many historical phenomenon over decades, involving so many actors over different places, and we are trying to squeeze it into 10 or 12 properties. Some might say you are doing it a disservice. If this nomination is inscribed on the World Heritage list, that will be the rising tide that lifts all boats i dont know. I think that will reverberate and illuminate some parts of the story that we could not really include. That was our motivation for creating birmingham. Literally birmingham as a National Monument boundary is within four blocks of a civil rights district. Understanding we could not identify and include all of the fights connected to birmingham Civil Rights Activity. But it does elevate the story that needs our support. Mr. Pencek having said that, could you each give information if those in the audience are interested in connecting, is there a place where they can connect . If you are interested in this effort to create serial nomination of civil rights sites. Georgia State University has a site that shows periodic efforts of our support. That is worldheritage. Gsu. Edu. And if you access the site, you can be signed up for an eblast list, and we will inform you on any opportunities. We were happy to report on a conference in washington put together with the National Parks service through one of those eblasts. I think we were one of the first to advertise brents trust and the Cultural Heritage action fund. If this interests you, access the website and ask to be put on the eblast list mr. Pencek . Where should folks go . To learn about the newly created Birmingham Civil Rights National Monuments, you can literally just googled the name or go to the National Parks website. If you want to know more about the motel Treasure Campaign that we concluded in december, you can go to the National Trust website at www. Savingplaces. Org nationaltre National Treasures. I want to close by acknowledging president obamas leadership. Through the use of the Antiquities Act of 1906, he helped create more National Monuments that tell the story of people of color in the United States. The last week before he left office he designated three new monuments including birmingham. Want to recognize congresswoman terry sewall, congressman clyburn, and newly named mayor mayor Randall Woodfin for his future leadership in helping us to realize the big dream for the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. Congressman john lewis has been instrumental in creating efforts through the National Park service to designate civil rights sites as well. Thank you all. [applause] we need to get a picture. [chatter] youre watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming on American History every weekend on cspan 3. Follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. 1967, Philco Ford Corporation markets 75th anniversary by producing a 26. Inute film titled 1999a. D the appliance in video manufacturer looked ahead to the turn of the 21st century to imagine what life would be like for a family in a home maintained by a central computer and powered by fuel cells. The National Film Preservation Foundation and library of congress made this film available through their online collection