Park Bench Chat

Park Bench Chat with Harvard University: The Next Frontier of Environmental Justice

Park Bench Chat

Thank you for joining Harvard University Division of Continuing Education and Trust for Public Land (TPL) for a virtual Park Bench Chat on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 about the growing movement to preserve Black history and culture sites across the United States.

Dr. Jocelyn Imani, TPL’s Black History and Culture Director, and Lindi von Mutius, Director, Sustainability and Global Development Practice Graduate Programs discussed how conservation practitioners, historians, academics, and the philanthropic community can work together most effectively to advance this work. Today only three percent of sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places focus on the experiences of Black Americans. This collective injustice deprives us of a full understanding of the story of America. We have a short window of time to preserve these sites before they are lost forever – either due to development, decay, or the people associated with them pass away.

Undervalued for far too long, there has never been a greater sense of urgency to accelerate the protection of important sites representing Black history and culture as well as unearth and celebrate the stories of resistance, self-determination, and agency of Black Americans across all of America’s protected lands.