Preservation NC seeks info about Black architects and craftsmen

Press release from Preservation North Carolina:

Preservation North Carolina (PNC) is rounding out the research phase for its new education program We Built This: Profiles of Black Architects and Builders in North Carolina and wants to hear your stories! Do you have stories of Black builders, architects, brickmasons or other artisans who helped construct or design buildings, churches, or houses in North Carolina? Is there someone from your community that you think should be highlighted? PNC wants to hear from you! Please share your stories with Julianne Patterson at jpatterson@presnc.org.

PNC is developing a multi-year educational program about Black builders and architects in NC, including a traveling exhibit, three-part film, and book. An additional fund is being created to help protect historic places of African-American significance. We Built This: Profiles of Black Architects and Builders in North Carolina will lift up the Black builders and architects who constructed or designed many of North Carolina’s most treasured historic places. The exhibit will cover more than three centuries and will lay the groundwork for a documentary film and book. The exhibit will debut in early 2022.

We Built This will build on the research from PNC’s 1998 exhibit, African American Builders and Architects in North Carolina. That exhibit highlights the contributions of Black artisans in the construction of many important North Carolina landmarks from the founding of the colony to 1865. The new We Built This exhibit will update the original exhibit and add the additional research that covers 1866-present, addressing such key subjects as the broken promise of Reconstruction; founding of HBCUs and local Black churches; Jim Crow; segregated public facilities and neighborhoods; Civil Rights era; and rise of new Black professionals. We Built This will tell of the talent, perseverance and resilience of the Black craftsmen and designers who thrived despite the heavy weight of racism.

Please feel free to reach out to Preservation North Carolina with any information you may have on this subject. No story or lead is too small.