NEWS & BLOG

A new plaque facing the White House bears witness to a shameful chapter in United States history: when enslaved people helped build one of the nation’s seats of government. Unveiled in a ceremony last week, the sign is one of three informational markers that now stand at the northern entrance of Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C.

Conceived by the White House Historical Association (WHHA) in collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS), the center and rightmost signs discuss Jackie Kennedy’s role as the WHHA’s founder and the history of protests in Lafayette Square, respectively, per a statement.

But the leftmost marker is the most notable, as it explains how enslaved people aided the White House’s construction. Though small, the sign marks the first time that a public work has formally acknowledged the role that enslaved people played in the creation of the U.S.’ most iconic building, reports Joe Heim for the Washington Post.

Original Post from Nora McGreevy/Smithsonian Magazine

Read More Here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-plaque-tells-enslaved-people-who-built-white-house-180978342/ 

According to deadline.com, the story of Charles “Charlie” Wiggins, the most famous African American race car driver of the 1920s and 1930s, will be told in the feature film Eraced. Producing partners on the film will include racing brands Firestone and IndyCar.

Eraced will chronicle the victories and struggles of the once-legendary-now-little-known Charlie “Speed King” Wiggins, who worked his way from shoeshine to mechanic to star racer despite the brutal inequities of segregation and Jim Crow laws. After being barred repeatedly from whites-only racing events, Wiggins took the parallel Colored Speedway Association by storm and won the prestigious annual Gold and Glory Sweep-stakes four times between 1926 and 1935. When he suffered a career-ending injury in 1936, Wiggins had to deal with exorbitant medical bills and died almost penniless.

Original post from GoodBlackNews

Read More Here: https://goodblacknews.org/2021/07/13/story-of-race-car-driving-pioneer-charlie-speed-king-wiggins-to-be-told-in-feature-film-biopic-eraced/

A fund formed in response to the deadly racial violence four years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, said Thursday it will award $3 million in grants to more than three dozen groups and sites nationwide to help preserve landmarks linked to Black history.

Recipients of money from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund include a consortium of civil rights sites and Black churches in Alabama; work to establish an African American heritage trail in Colorado; and preservation of the church where Emmett Till’s funeral was held in Chicago after his lynching in Mississippi in 1955.

Other grants announced Thursday include money to hire a director for Save Harlem Now!, a historic preservation effort in New York; repairs to the African American Museum and Library in Oakland, California; and research on enslaved people at Hacienda La Esperanza in Puerto Rico.

Original post from Jay Reeves/Associated Press News

Read More here: https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-1ee444bb3b26356831573e199f2e6463

Original report from JC Canicosa/LA Illuminator

Despite objections from preservationist groups, LSU has moved ahead with demolishing McDonogh No. 11, a 142-year-old New Orleans elementary school that has undergone millions of dollars of publicly-funded renovation and moving.

The LSU Health Science Center, which bought the building to make room for the University Medical Center, will build a clinic where McDonogh 11 currently stands. 

The Old McDonogh 11 building, photo taken June 2020

Edwin Murray, vice chancellor of the LSU Health Science Center, said in a phone interview last year McDonogh 11 was actually approved for demolition in 2010. Since then, the building has been moved three times by the state because preservationists wanted the building saved. The LSU Health Science Center had no desire to tear down the building, Murray said.

Ernie Ballard, a spokesperson for LSU, said the university “offered it to a number of preservationist groups but no one ultimately stepped up to do something with it.”

Danielle Del Sol, executive director of the Preservation Resource Center, said developers “desperately wanted to save” McDonogh 11, but the costs of moving and renovating the building were too much.

Read more: https://lailluminator.com/2021/06/23/new-orleans-school-building-mcdonogh-11-torn-down-despite-millions-spent-on-renovations/

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