Transcripts For CSPAN3 Preservation Of African-American Hist

Disabilities and to see really what was going on. Most of the information that i got founded websites and thats how i muy the information was legitimate. Your message to washington defendant c. What is the most urgent issue for the new president and congress to address in 2017. Our competition is open to all middle school or High School Students grades 6 through 12 with 100,000 awarded in cash prizes. Students can work alone or in a group of up to 3. And will be awarded and shared between 150 students and 53 teachers and will go to the student or team with the best overall injury. This years deadline is january 20th, 2017. So mark your calendars and help us spread the word with student film makers. Lets go to our website student cam. Org. Thousand more from the association for the study of African American life and history with the panel about the preservation of African American historical sites. It includes former National Parks Service Director Robert Stanton and the National Museum of African American history. This is 2. 5 hours. Its my pleasure to welcome you today. Obscured Spaces Community partnerships and preservations of African American history sites and the National Park Services Second century. Its an honor to be here with participants. Especially mr. Stanton and plflt franklin. I would like to take this opportunity to underscore our enthusiasm for the Park Services partnership with the association for the study of African American life and history. The park Service Needs this collaboration as we recommit to more new answered explorations of american stories and to sharing those stories with a wide audience in innovative ways. I hope that you already know or will discover that the National Park service is a good partner. Our civil rights thish tif begun this year offers opportunities for collaboration and, in fact, the park Service Plans to create tuns for scholars to help park interpreters research African American civil rights stories associated with parks. And researchers that know primary resources and skills that can help us do our jobs better. Earlier this year the National Park service funded 5. 5 million worth of projects through the civil rights initiative. And share briefly with you a hand full of those projects so our colleagues in the Park Services midwest region planned a study that poses a big question. How did race structure African Americans access to Outdoor Recreation and leisure resources since the end of the civil war through the present. The history of Outdoor Recreation related to the creation of an african mesh middle class. African american relationship with nature and the evolution of African American environmental thought. The Southeast Region will be taking a closer look of the historical significance of dr. Martin luther king and crow era. With stories and to connect them with those stories and also stories without the resistance that brought about the deseg grags of county schools. One of its research projects, northeast region will explore the region of reconstruction in the north ooex and ultimately the park will use that research to draw interpretative connections between park resources, reconstruction error themes and issues relative to contemporary society. Issues such as the preva zif. Identifying reconstruction sites and themes and this study to kus primarily on the occupied sale. In another study the northeast region turns a light on park Service History by documenting racial segregation and units of the National Park system in virginia during the jim crow and modern civil rights eras. According to the je og geograph. Theyre in the northeastern region. Practice by some mps units established in virginia. What strategies did africanamericans devise to gain equal access to recreational resources in the years following official desegregation. The National Capital region is examining the history of National Park service and public policy. In 1967, the year before washington erupted in protest and violence after the as assassination of dr. King, the agency had sponsored a summer in the Parks Program providing activities for city residence, following the d. C. Riots, as they were called, the mayor credited the summer in the Parks Program with preventing trouble in washington for becoming worse than it was and it was pretty bad. And he also publicly praised the park service and thanked them for saving the city. So how did that program work and what were its legacies. So these are just a few of the projects that will help National Park service be better stewards and interpreters of the places we preserve and protect. While youre at the meeting, you can find out more about the National Park Service Sites and programs that preserve stories of africanamerican life and history by mps exhibit in the exhibit hall and there youll find posters that are highlighting community out reach at Jefferson National expansion memorial in st. Louis, Lincoln Home National Historic site in illinois and Youth Programs, including an urban archeology core held right here in richmond, the last two summers with zbraet success. Before i introduce the moderator, i would like to share an experience that speaks to the theme of this panel. Last saturday i was in a hallowed place and obscured space on the back street in sharpsburg maryland. I attended the 150th anniversary celebration of tul sans chapel, located a breath away from the battlefield and mr. Stanton, i believe you have stood in this pulpit. In 1866 three people designed financed and built the chapel. They later stone foundation. They filled trees and huge logs to make the walls of this sacred space. From 1868 through 1877 the church served as a Bureau School and even after the school ended, the chapel remained a place of worship until 1998. The building and its cemetery have been preserved by the friends of the chapel who recognize its importance. The Park Services also recognize its importance by listing it on the National Register of Historic Places and some day it might be on the National Historic landmark registry, too. In its opening remarks, my colleague dean invoked the spirits of the first 18th students to enroll there. The remnants of two black wards that had been uncovered during restoration enhanced that invocation. Can you feel those children, dean asked. We could. You could manage them practicing arithmetic and writing their abcs on the board in front of the room. As dean said, here was where miepds were emancipated where souls were uplifted, where freedom was made real. Where hope was created. That hallowed obscure place matters. So without further adieu, well get to the panel and its my pleasure to introduce the Panel Moderator mr. Ellen spears, culture resources director of the National Park conservation association. Since joining ncpa in 1999 he has worked for its enhancing Cultural Diversity program and managed its National Parks Community Partners program. This Initiative Connect the National Parks in major cities to racially and ethnically diverse constituents and fostered a Ground Breaking Youth Employment program. After joining ncpas affairs department, mr. Spears was instrumental of gaining passage of the national under Ground Railroad Network Funding reauthorization act of 2008. More recently he was central to five successful National Monument campaigns, including fort monroe, hair yet tub man, Charles Young. Thank you. Allen spears. [ applause ]. Good afternoon, everybody. And welcome to the 100 1st conference of the association for the study of africanamerican life in history. Its a pleasure to be here. I want to thank our hasla host, barbara in here. The number of people in the room. Youre probably life members if youre sitting in this audience for the opening preliminary. Im allen. Were going to take about 40 minutes to do our first panel and well bring up some experts from National Park service and Community Park organizations that will talk to you a little bit more and well do our best to wrap up by 6 30 so you can get ready for the reception tonight. One housekeeping detail, if you have one of these, who doesnt these days, please place it on silent and vibrate. We will like to avoid bird signals and calls in the middle of what is going to be a fantastic panel. I have the great opportunity, privilege of having this conversation with two colleagues mentors peers and friends. And i want to introduce you to, on my far left, john w. Franklin who is the senior manager of the office of external affairs for the National Museum of the africanamerican, the newly opened museum of africanamerican. [ applause ] and if it was possible to top that, we have bob stanton sitting next to him, former director of the National Park Service First africanamerican to serve in that role and someone who has been a champion for diversity and enhancing the africanamerican experience for his entire life. So welcome there. And i would be remiss if i didnt say quickly about the National Parks conservation association, were not the federal government. Were not the federal park foundation, were advocacy organization, i tend to dress like when i go to lobby on behalf of the park service and funding and working with people in communities to increase relevance diversity and inclusion, well talk about that today. This is 2016. Its is centennial for the National Park service. How many people, by a show of hands, are aware of that. Thank you for coming and everybody knows. So this is a wellinformed group. I dont think we need to belabor that point too much. In the centennial year as were thinking about how weve made so many strides to advance interNational Parks, this president , president obama, has done a fantastic job and established a great legacy of designating new National Parks, colonel young, and how we really extend this movement to create a 21th century National Park system for 21 century american. Mr. Tstanton you have seen this from the long view, so with your experience, talk to us about what your thoughts are on the centennial, how well is the park service doing. What do they need to do to keep going in the right direction . Thank you very much. Allen. I want to join you in applauding the leadership of allowing this session, this afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored to have in the audience the president , dr. Evelyn, youre honored. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [ applause ] i, too, want to salute npca and the National Park service for hosting and certainly an honor to be here with john w. Franklin. And ask each of you to join me in applauding our colleagues at the smithsonian at the National Smithsonian museum of africanamerican history to john and dr. Lonnie and all your colleagues, were in your debt. Were so grateful. I will attempt to be brief, to speak about an agency that i have known for half of a century and, once i get involved and talk about the National Park service, i would ask each of you be prepared to have breakfast here tomorrow morning. Seriously, i will try to be brief and to look at the audience and see so many familiar faces and certainly my colleagues and the National Park service and still refer to them as colleagues in the park service, although ive not been with the park service for the past 16 years. Theyre still a part of me and im a part of you, the finest men and women in the government. The men women of the National Park service, its good to be home with my colleagues. I think it will be appropriate, very briefly to reflect on the 1 hundredth anniversary of the National Park service and National Parks to mutually reflect on the journey from which were traveling from august 25, 1916 and recognizing that we have scholars in the audience who traffic in facts. I want to disspell a rumor, no, i was not there when president wood ward wilson signed the organic act. But i have been with the National Park service for a long time, first entering the first National Park that i ever experienced in the summer of 1962 and that was made possible through the courageous leadership of one of my all Time Favorite secretary, the honorable stewart lee. Let me go back with the progression of the National Park system and thechb make a couple of comments about where we are and where i think we might go and certainly dr. Franklin, john w. Have some very keen observation on this, as well. We talk about the hundredth anniversary, but a lot of you yellow stone in 1872, yes, yellow stone joined by 34 other parks were in existence of the National Park established 100 years ago by congress signed into lu by president wood ward wilson. Its interesting to note that the secretary of the interior had difficulty in protecting the parks and people illegally what have you. And had limited civilian personnel to assist so you prevail upon the secretary war that we are in now, i need some help. The secretary of war, say i will help you mr. Secretary provide that Congress Gives me authorization to use my military force for domestic purpose. Congress agreed and consequently the secretary of the interior had the benefit of the u. S. Calgary. Through history books had not reported when i was going to segregated that among those before there was a National Park service were people of my beautiful color, the buffalo soldier, yosimity and other large parks. That story is being told now very vividly at those parks and certainly as allen mentioned, at the Charles Young Buffalo Soldier National mind in ohio. So come is the yeah 1916 with the new agency, it muddle along and were in world war ii and maybe a couple of parks we have and what have you, the second director of the National Park service, visionary, the name all bright, prevailed on on president frank lynn eleanor roosevelt, maybe you look at the reorganization and in doing so look at the various Historic Sites under the department of war. Under the department of agriculture, under the white house and may be considered within that executive order endorsed by Congress Called the reorganization of the executive branch in 1933, the areas in which the National Park service was responsible after that authorization was signed by president roosevelt, doubled all the revolutionary sites, civil war sites, statute of liberty, the parks in washington, d. C. , the statute of liberty all came on the National Park service. And then we, as well, we went into the depression followed by the Second World War two, followed by the korean war, so a few were added here and there. And then in the 60s, there was discretion by maybe more consequently large urban areas were established. Something else was taken place come 1960 up until today is a full recognition, not only by the government, but indeed by the American People that if