Preservation NC Fall Symposium

A Shared Legacy: Reflections on PNC’s New Headquarters
NOVEMBER 7-8 | RALEIGH, NC

Nearly three years ago, Preservation North Carolina began a journey to move its Headquarters Office to two endangered and important landmarks surviving from historic Oberlin Village, established after the Civil War as a freedman’s community. Built by former slaves, the Hall and Graves-Fields Houses vividly tell post-Civil War stories where freedmen optimistically embraced the importance of hard work and education as the means to provide a better life for themselves and their children. They are two of only five Oberlin structures listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

On November 7-8, Preservation North Carolina will hold its 2019 Fall Symposium at Shaw University in downtown Raleigh, to celebrate the renovation of our new headquarters office. We will explore topics inspired by the project, such as preservation and its role in social justice, house moving and lifting and we’ll premiere the documentary one-hour film about the headquarters project and Oberlin Village.

Come network, learn, and celebrate with us!

Click here for more, including complete schedule, registration and sponsorship information.

Symposium Highlights:

BENDING THE ARC: WILLIS GRAVES JR. AND THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE. This original short play, commissioned by Preservation NC from award-winning playwright and poet, Howard Craft, will explore the Raleigh roots of Willis Graves Jr.’s dogged pursuit of justice for African Americans as a civil rights attorney during the 1920s-1950s in Detroit. The play will highlight the inspiration for his commitment to justice: his father, Willis Graves Sr., builder of the Graves-Fields House who was heavily involved in social justice causes in Raleigh, and ran for the NC House of Representatives in 1898.

PRESERVATION AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIAL JUSTICE: Historian Dr. Tom Hanchett examines segregation and housing policy in the US and its impact in North Carolina, paralleling the powerful book, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein.

MARION S. COVINGTON KEYNOTE: President and Founder of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), Arthur Ziegler Jr., shares how PHLF has navigated complex projects successfully. Throughout Zeigler’s fifty-plus year tenure, PHLF has been at the forefront of preservation groups that are actively engaged in both downtown revitalization and affordable housing.
Click here for more, including complete schedule, registration and sponsorship information.