Black History and Culture
We’re on a mission to create, protect, and activate public spaces of historical and cultural significance to Black communities across the country.
Help Preserve Sites That Tell the Story of Black Life in America
Only 3 percent of sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places focus on the experiences of Black Americans. This collective oversight deprives us of a full understanding of the story of America and, going forward, presents the grave risk that many important places will be lost to development or neglect. We are committed to correcting this failure.
For decades we’ve worked with communities to preserve sites that recognize the struggle and resilience of Black Americans—from sites commemorating enslaved people who risked all for their freedom to the Atlanta neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his childhood.
To further this movement, we are redoubling our efforts to create, protect, and activate public spaces of historical and cultural significance to Black communities across the country.
Meet the Black History and Culture Advisory Council
Our work is guided by an esteemed group of leaders who share a passion for our mission and advancing our work to create, protect, and activate public spaces of historical and cultural significance to Black communities across the country.
By thoughtfully preserving sites and spaces that hold meaning, we elevate the stories of Black Americans to their rightful place. Read more.
Through land protection and historic preservation, TPL is working to tell the story of the Black experience in America. Meet the visionaries behind our Black History and Culture work.
With a new director, Dr. Jocelyn Imani, and a committed board of advisors, our Black History and Culture work aims to protect places that tell stories of resistance, self-determination, and agency. Get to know them and their vision.
We have a long and notable history of working closely with communities across the country to elevate the lessons our history has to offer and strengthen a connection to our nation’s shared heritage.
Keith Weaver, Trust for Public Land board member and Sony executive, sits down with Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to discuss the growing movement to preserve and share a more accurate, equitable public memory of America.
Before Ben Jealous emerged as a civil rights leader on the national stage, taking the helm of the NAACP from 2000 to 2013, he was a kid splitting time between worlds. Learn how his family history and commitment to civil rights shapes his approach to environmental justice and his connection to the natural world.
In the 1900s and through both world wars, hundreds of Morehouse College students worked as seasonal help in the tobacco fields at Meadowood. Among them was Martin Luther King Jr. We are working to preserve this land to highlight a little-known chapter of civil rights history and create a new place for people to connect with nature.
Our Donors
From Sony Pictures Action to the 1772 Foundation, our donors are helping to build a more equitable and inclusive future.
Get involved
Contact david.emery-peck@tpl.org to learn how you can support our efforts to preserve Black history and culture sites.
