Historic Preservation Lecture | Brent Leggs: Reconstructing Identity

This lecture poses one central question: What’s historic preservation’s highest purpose? Reconstructing Identity combines historic preservation practice and social justice and acts as a catalyst for transcendent transformation and creative empowerment of people. As stewards of American culture, we are concerned with human experiences and provoke conversations about race, equity, and reconciliation. Looking forward, the American preservation movement can play a critical role in racial healing and move the nation towards racial understanding. By exploring the power of identity and redefining the significance of African American heritage, we can uplift diverse communities, and position preservation as a new social justice platform. Balancing the embedded memories of injustice against the elusive memories of achievement, preservation’s highest purpose can be redemptive and holistic and become the new social justice movement.

Brent Leggs is a senior field officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation based in Washington, D.C., where he manages several National Treasure campaigns across the country to honor black history and ethnic cultural spaces. During his Harvard Loeb Fellowship, Brent authored Preserving African American Historic Places, which provides tools for protecting some of the most important landmarks in African-American history. Brent is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation.