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Q&A
Landmark designations for African American and black cultural significance
1:34:00
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Council Member Hanks inquires about ongoing efforts to recognize and celebrate places of African American and black cultural significance through landmark designations. Chair Carroll provides an overview of recent designations and the commission's approach to African burial grounds.
- LPC recently designated 50 West Thirteenth Street, the home of a prominent 19th-century black businessman and abolitionist
- Other recent designations include Frederick Douglass Memorial Park Cemetery and Drake Park And Enslaved People's Burial Ground in the Bronx
- LPC is committed to representing diverse histories through its designations
- Designating burial sites can be challenging due to the difficulty in determining boundaries, especially when covered by urban infrastructure
- LPC supports efforts to tell the stories of these places, even when physical remains are not visible or accessible
Kamillah Hanks
1:34:00
Okay.
1:34:00
Excellent.
1:34:01
So when it comes to like landmark designations, what type of work continues to be underway to recognize and celebrate the places of African American and black cultural significance through designations and landmarks?
1:34:13
And what efforts are the administration taking around African burial grounds generally, and is there any update on your thinking around recognizing these locations?
Sarah Carroll
1:34:25
Yeah.
1:34:26
And I you know, I'm very I'm proud at the commission as we've, in recent years, really prioritized and had a real focus on representing the diversity of the city.
1:34:37
The commission though does have a long history of representing African American history in our designations, and we've built on that.
1:34:44
And as I mentioned in my testimony, we just recently designated 50 West Thirteenth Street, was the home a nineteenth century home of a prominent black businessman and abolitionist, tells that story in sort of pre civil war era.
1:34:59
And as you know, we also recently designated the Frederick Douglass Memorial Park Cemetery and the Drake Park And Enslaved People's Burial Ground in the Bronx in council member Salamanca's district.
1:35:13
And so we are committed to continuing to tell the full story and represent these histories through our designations.
1:35:24
And as we've talked a little bit about burials, I think it's we are able to designate them when they are known burial sites, when there's been testing and artifacts that can document boundaries.
1:35:35
Boundaries are a very tricky thing with burials when they've been covered over by our urban infrastructure.
1:35:41
But we absolutely support and telling the story of these places even when they're not extent and even when we don't know what's beneath the ground.
1:35:51
And so, you know, I applaud you for your work in trying to get markers, and we would be happy to support that in any way we can.