Black Preservation Stories

(S2E6) Five Acres, Still Singing: The James Weldon Johnson Foundation

What does it mean not only to preserve a historic home, but to sustain a tradition of Black creativity, reflection, and renewal? In Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Five Acres—the home and writing cabin of poet, diplomat, NAACP leader, and “National Hymn” author James Weldon Johnson—served as a retreat from the demands of public life. Johnson’s “National Hymn,” later widely known as “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and recognized today as the Black National Anthem, became one of the most enduring works in African American cultural and political history. Purchased in 1926, became a place where Johnson could write, rest, and imagine beyond the pressures of racism, politics, and national visibility. Nearly a century later, after the property fell into disrepair and faced possible demolition, literary executor Jill Rosenberg-Jones and her husband Rufus Elmer Jones Jr. acquired and restored the site, transforming an endangered private site into the foundation of a broader effort to safeguard Johnson’s life and legacy. In this episode, Foundation Chair Jill Rosenberg-Jones and President Rufus Elmer Jones Jr. reflect on the restoration of Five Acres—from Jill’s discovery of the deteriorating property in 2011 to the launch of an artist residency in 2017 inspired by Johnson’s belief that “no people can be deemed inferior who produce great art and literature.” Together, we explore preservation as stewardship, rest as resistance, the contested public memory surrounding the “National Hymn,” and their vision for a future Center for Culture and Convening that would expand Five Acres into a national space for Black artistic and scholarly renewal. jamesweldonjohnson.org / @jamesweldonjohnsonfoundation

(S2E5) Stand Up for Ellen: The Robbins House and Black History at the Birthplace of the American Revolution

How can historic sites draw on the Revolutionary War and the often-overlooked role of Black participants to create meaningful conversations about race and historical memory in the present? April 20, Massachusetts commemorates Patriot’s Day—marking the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord that ignited the American Revolution. It also marks the seasonal reopening of the Robbins House Museum (@robbinshouse) in Concord, a site that challenges us to expand the story of American freedom. Built around 1800 for the children of Caesar Robbins—a formerly enslaved man who secured his freedom by fighting in the Revolution—the House is one of the few surviving structures in New England linked to a Black Revolutionary War veteran. For generations, it was home to free Black families whose lives reflected landownership, education, and antislavery activism in a nation still struggling to uphold its founding ideals. When the house faced demolition in the early 2000s, residents rallied to preserve it—not just as a structure, but as a vessel for lives and legacies that disrupt dominant founding narratives. Their efforts transformed the Robbins House into a museum that now anchors Concord’s evolving reckoning with race, memory, and historical truth. In this episode, Executive Director Jen Turner and Board Co-Chairs Nikki Turpin and Joe Palumbo reflect on the grassroots effort to save the house, the campaign to rename Concord’s middle school for civil rights activist and educator Ellen Garrison, and the broader work of honoring and preserving Black life in early New England. Together, we explore how myth and memory shape American identity—and the urgency of including Black history within the nation’s founding narrative as the U.S. nears its 250th anniversary. robbinshouse.org / bghpn.org

(S2E4) Where Two or Three Gather: The AME Zion Church of Kingston

What does it take to preserve a Black not only a historic site—but as a living architecture of belonging, refuge, and enduring Black presence? This episode centers on the A.M.E. Zion Church of Kingston, founded in 1848 and the oldest continuously active African American congregation in Ulster County, New York. Established in resistance to racial exclusion within white Methodist congregations, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church—often called the Freedom Church—emerged from a demand for dignity: the right to worship freely, to lead, and to build sacred space on Black terms. As one of the first denominations in the United States to ordain women as elders and to the pastorate, A.M.E. Zion carries a long tradition of Black women’s leadership, reflected in figures such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. In Kingston, that legacy lives on in the early women ministers who traveled the Hudson Valley to preach and in the women who sustain the congregation today. Congregants Rashida and Maisha Tyler, alongside their mother, Terry Smith-Tyler, reflect on the responsibilities of stewardship, the enduring role of Black churches in civic and cultural life, and the ways faith undergirds long-term preservation work—from grant writing and fundraising to repairing roofs, restoring stained glass, and planning for accessibility. The episode also follows the congregation’s efforts to document its history, challenge erasure in a city that foregrounds Dutch colonial narratives, and navigate the National Register process, culminating in its listing in March 2021. This recognition was followed by support from the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund through its Black Churches grant program in 2025. bghpn.org / amezionkingston.org

(S2E3) Beyond Hospital Walls: Scott Ford Houses Inc. and Preserving Histories of Black Midwifery

What has been lost with the erosion of Black community-based maternal care traditions? How might recovering the history of Black midwifery and cultural knowledge inform how we understand reproductive justice today? Scott Ford Houses, Inc. in Jackson, Mississippi—founded in 1995—preserves two 1890s homes in the Farish Street Historic District, built by formerly enslaved Mary Greene Scott and later inhabited by midwife Virginia Ford—one of the few remaining sites tied to Black midwifery in the state. Through the 1960s, Farish Street stood as the largest economically independent Black community in Mississippi, thriving as a vital center of commerce, culture, and community life. Through interpretation and community-rooted programming, Scott Ford Houses carries forward the history and enduring legacy of Mississippi’s Black midwives, framing midwifery as a system of care that sustained Black families for generations. Initiatives like Wombs of Wisdom gather elders, families, birth workers, and community members to share stories, while the Granny Midwives Oral History Project, in collaboration with the Smith Roberston Museum and Jackson State University’s Margaret Walker Center, documents memories across Mississippi’s regional landscapes—including the Jackson Prairie, the Delta, the Black Belt, and the Loess Hills. In this episode, James Curtis Smith, Ada Miller Robinson, Detrice Roberts, and Heather Denae reflect on Black midwifery as a deeply skilled, community-rooted practice—one that sustained Black life despite exclusion from formal medical systems—and consider its lasting relevance amid ongoing maternal health disparities. This episode is dedicated to the life and work of former Scott Ford Houses, Inc. President Dr. James Curtis Smith (1952–2025), who passed on May 3, 2025, shortly after the recording on March 18, 2025. Features interview excerpts from the Granny Midwives Oral History Project.   Bghpn.org / scottfordhouseinc.com / grannymidwives.org

(S2E2) Out of the Shadows: Althemese Barnes, the Riley House Museum, and FAAHPN

BGHPN continues Season 2 with a special feature on preservationist Althemese Pemberton Barnes, whose work reshaped how Tallahassee, Florida, remembers its past. In 1987, through grassroots organizing and public advocacy, Barnes helped lead the restoration of Greenwood Cemetery, the city’s historic African American burial ground. That effort soon extended to another endangered landmark: the Riley House, built in 1890 as the home of educator and civic leader John Gilmore Riley. When the house faced demolition in the 1990s, Barnes helped mobilize community support to save it. In 1996, the home reopened as the John G. Riley Center & Museum (@johnrileycenter), preserving and sharing the region’s African American history. In 1997, Barnes helped establish the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network (FAAHPN), connecting Black museums and heritage sites across the state. In 2012, President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, where she advocated for federal support for preserving African American history nationwide. In this episode, Althemese Pemberton Barnes, Executive Director Emeritus of the Riley House Museum and the FAAHPN, reflects on her journey and shares insight into what it takes to sustain grassroots preservation as a collective and lasting movement. bghpn.org / rileymuseum.org / faahpn.com