Progressive Democrat Issue 108: BLACK HISTORY ENDANGERED

A friend of mine, Bill Batson, has been active in trying to preserve Underground Railroad sites in Brooklyn. He has observed that some of the first things to go when developers start to gentrify a neighborhood are the black heritage sites...including things like a graveyard where black Revolutionary War soldiers are buried and the Harriet Tubman museum. Sometimes Batson has been successful in drawing attention to endangered sites. But too often these sites are ignored and forgotten. And it isn't just in Brooklyn that there is a problem. Iowa State Representative Elesha Gayman includes in her newsletter a report on Underground Railroad sites in Iowa:

PRESENTATION ON UNDERGROUND RAILROAD DISCOVERIES

As part of the Black History Month celebration, there will be a presentation on the recent discoveries made on the underground railroad. The presentation will happen on Feb. 11 at the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs and be made by John Zeller, Project Historian and Douglas W. Jones, Archaeologist, State Historic Preservation Office.

The State Historical Society of Iowa has been conducting historical research and fieldwork since 2002 on the Iowa Freedom Trail Project. This project seeks to document Underground Railroad activities throughout Iowa by identifying individuals and groups who were involved with these activities and the places where these events occurred in Iowa.

The preliminary results have shown that most of the homes and properties associated with the Underground Railroad activities in Iowa have been demolished or abandoned. Most of these former homes and properties are now archaeological sites. As part of the project, the State Historical Society of Iowa has sponsored several archaeological investigations to help document the locations of these former homes and properties associated with the Underground Railroad activities.

From Brooklyn to Iowa, and many places in between I suspect, black heritage is endangered. To join the fight to defend black heritage in NYC, call (917) 627-6528 or go to www.batsonforbrooklyn.com. To help defend black heritage in Iowa, you can contact the Iowa Historical Society or contact Elesha Gayman's office: (515) 281-7342. For other states, you can try finding your closest African-American history museum or your local historical society to find out more about what is being done, or more likely not done, to preserve black heritage in your area.

To quote Bill Batson: If you destroy a person's heritage you can do whatever you want to them.

Click here to go back to THOUGHTS section and Table of Contents for this issue.