This article is the second in a series. For context about the series, click here to read "Daily REPairations No. 1: Cite Black People". With great care and appreciation for myself and others, I submit this reflection.

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As the summer of 2023 comes to an end, I am reflecting on my most memorable moments. The presentation that I gave at the 2023 Docomomo US National Symposium in New Haven, CT, was one of them. It was an opportunity for me, a Black woman, to practice racial equity in the sense of asking for what I need:  reciprocity.

The title of my presentation was: “(un)Redact the Facts … of the Invisible Architectures of Narratives + Interpretations about History to Tell a Full(er) (Hi)Story for Racial Equity + Healing”. 

It’s a talk that has evolved since I first started this research and advocacy on history communications in 2020. For the DOCOMOMO US National Symposium, a conference that centers on the mid-century modern era, I catered the talk on how to tell a full(er) story about the historical trauma, lynching and redlining, that layered this era of much innovative, quirky, cool “futuristic” design. I am thankful that DOCOMOMO US picked the abstract that I submitted with my guest speaker application and I am thankful for the opportunity to share.

Thank you to those who thanked me for sharing and for being brave. I presented to a room of a majority White audience and spoke openly about white supremacy, how architecture and preservation perpetuate it through grammar and language choices. It was my first time presenting, in-person, at a national conference. Was I both nervous and excited? Why yes!

One of 57 guest speakers who presented topics throughout the five-day conference, I was one of three panelists, moderated by J.C. Calderón AIA, NOMA, LEED AP for “Session 3: Telling the Full Story: African Americans, Activism, and Architecture”. I thoroughly enjoyed each presentation by the other panelists, Jennifer Walkowski and Daniel Williamson. I wish we had more time in our session for discussion!

Thank you to fellow preservation architect Angel Ayón, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP for agreeing to take a few photos of me in this momentous, personal, and communal milestone. I'm so glad that one of the photos is of me and June Jordan. June Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was a Black woman, bisexual, a poet, writer, activist, and unknown to many, an environmental designer. In addition to integrating her writing about one of my favorite topics, the passive voice, in my talk, I made a point of discussing her work as an environmental designer during the mid-century modern area. Was my talk the first utterance of June Jordan’s name at a DOCOMOMO US Symposium? Maybe so.

Not a poet by profession, I am inspired by these words she shared in an interview with Alternative Radio in response to a question about the role of the poet in society:

“Always to be as honest as possible and to be as careful about the trust invested in you as you possibly can. Then the task of a poet of color, a black poet, as a people hated and despised, is to rally the spirit of your folks…I have to get myself together and figure out an angle, a perspective, that is an offering, that other folks can use to pick themselves up, to rally and to continue or, even better, to jump higher, to reach more extensively in solidarity with even more varieties of people to accomplish something. I feel that it’s a spirit task.”

…

Earlier this week, DOCOMOMO US shared a link to the Symposium recordings on Vimeo. Instead of charging a rental fee for the recording of “Session 3: Telling the Full Story: African Americans, Activism, and Architecture”, they are offering it for free, if selected a la carte.  

Some context around DOCOMOMO US' free offering of this session:  I appreciate DOCOMOMO US doing so, as I addressed concern about the national non-profit profiting from a presentation made by me, a Black woman who did not receive financial compensation for the service beyond complimentary conference registration. As a part of my negotiations to present at the conference, I received the latter, confirmation that the recording would only be available for one-year, and DOCOMOMO US is considering compensating Black presenters at future conferences. 

As momentum builds for pay equity across many sectors:

:: for the abolishment of unpaid internships championed by Sarah Marsom, job boards with transparent job/internship posting policies such as Museum Hue, NCPH, and my own Black in Historic Preservation Job Board,

:: for economic justice in community-based cultural work such as oral history work by Sarah Dziedzic

:: for residual compensation / residual pay advocated for in Hollywood by the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) Strike that has similar tones to organizations/individuals compensating conference presenters for the continued use of their presentation recordings

:: government mandates for salary ranges on job postings such as in New York State and thus New York City, and

:: because of the legacy of historical trauma that has resulted in a tremendous wealth gap in the US between Black and White people,

it is especially critical for individuals and organizations to compensate Black people for their labor. Financial compensation is best as we live in a society where money equals value and power. When you do so, you say that our lived experience as a Black person is of value and therefore we matter. And Black people, exercise the confidence you already have to state your fees upfront and follow up with an invoice because of the aforementioned. We are worthy of this form of appreciation and reciprocity for our labor and lived experience.

My 2023 conference speaking experience, and experiences over the last two years have been a larger pay equity issue of financially compensating all conference presenters, not just the headliners and opening/closing plenary speakers. Include a line item in your conference budget for honorariums for all presenters. This might require limiting the number of speakers and/or increasing registration fees and fundraising to cover this line item. I offer these suggestions as someone who planned and hosted a virtual historic preservation conference in 2021. I made sure each presenter received financial compensation and complimentary registration, including the opening plenary speaker, who respectfully declined the honorarium offer. Compensation was made possible by one of the conference sponsors.

Some thoughts on compensating guest speakers via X (Twitter):

::  Vivianne Castillo, Founder of Humanity Centered:  https://twitter.com/vcastillo630/status/1498108047478214657?s=20

::  Louie Dean Valencia, PhD, Digital Historian:  https://twitter.com/BurntCitrus/status/1600171065606406148?s=20

And, a thread related to paying academics for speaking engagements, with applicable notes for conferences in general:

::  Jennifer van Alstyne, Owner of The Academic Designer, LLC:  https://twitter.com/HigherEdPR/status/1599479636622479365?s=20

• Within this thread, I recommend this one where the author outlines the subtasks within the task of presenting a $3,500 talk:  https://twitter.com/AstridBears/status/1599762752180195328?s=20

...

Since DOCOMOMO US is not charging a rental fee to watch Session 3 (thank you for not profiting from my work, at least a la carte, as I advocated for in my talk and contract negotiations), you, fellow reader, have the opportunity to financially support my work, the opportunity to participate in reciprocal care for my time and energy in producing this research and racial equity advocacy. The advocacy of (un)Redact the Facts is changing the way people and organizations are writing narratives and interpretations across the country, and across the pond, for racial equity and for our collective healing from historical trauma. 

Above all, you are uplifting the value of this work with your attention, when you integrate the tenets of (un)Redact the Facts in your work, and with your financial support. 

To watch the DOCOMOMO US recording, click here.

:: There are three payment options. The General Admission fee is a percentage of my hourly rate for racial equity consulting and the other fees follow from this fee.

With great care and appreciation, I submit this reflection. Thank you so much!

On June 22, 2023, k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (she/her), presented "(un)Redact the Facts ... of the Invisible Architectures of Narratives + Interpretations about History to Tell a Full(er) (Hi)Story for Racial Equity + Healing". This 20-min. talk was one of three in the Session 3 panel at the 2023 DOCOMOMO US National Symposium in New Haven, CT, held at the recently restored Marcel Breuer-designed Hotel Marcel, Yale University's campus, and surrounding midcentury modern sites.

kennedy, a preservation architect, is the founder, owner, and principal of wrkSHap | kiloWatt, an NYC-based design studio that illuminates possibilities in historic preservation and owner's representation. wrkSHap kiloWatt is also home to initiatives that advocate for equitable practices in historic preservation:  Black in Historic Preservation, Beyond Integrity in (X), and (un)Redact the Facts.

This article also appears on LinkedIn.

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]]>Daily REPairations No. 2: Pay Black People — Speaking EngagementsNCPH Instagram Takeoverk. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 20:15:19 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/national-council-on-public-history-ncph-publichistorian-instagram-takeover-day-5-unredact-the-facts5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:6401019ce4a0d60f9a4794e1Instagram Reel

Well, our time has come to an end or a beginning. Before I go, a few words about the initiative that feels like my life’s mission, ancestral work on historical narratives: (un)Redact the Facts.

It all began in June of 2020, when I saw something and said something. What did I see? The passive voice in a caption to an Instagram post that claimed to Tell the Full American Story. So, I said something, and I will continue to say something until there is a concerted effort by organizations and individuals to tell a fuller story about the Black experience in the United States, which is a fuller story about White people and all of US.

In November 2022, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), in response to comments they received about a diagram they made that communicated the difference between equality and equity, they revised the diagram. They said the revision was their attempt to practice empathy for the audience. The audience they chose was the audience that needs the most empathy – people experiencing disabilities.

Similar to RWJF, for all of the offerings that I provide, my target audience are the people in our society who need the most care for their stories, for the narratives we tell about their ancestors, our ancestors, friends, and families. These people are mainly Black people. Through the three aforementioned initiatives, Black in Historic Preservation (@blackinhistpres), Beyond Integrity in (X) (@beyond.integrity), and (un)Redact the Facts (@unredacthefacts), esp. (un)Redact the Facts, I aim to change the narrative about Black people, and thus their experience in the world, to one of more grace and compassion from non-Black people and for themselves, too.

The goal of (un)Redact the Facts is to read and hear historical narratives that tell fuller stories of accountability about our lived experiences of slavery, lynching, redlining, etc. These fuller stories reframe the narrative to one of horrible, unexplained conditions happening to us instead of horrible conditions being a natural occurrence of which we deserved due to a fictional, inherent inferiority. How we tell the story about the past is integral to this – less passive voice that omits who did what to whom and more active voice. Use fewer euphemisms in historical narratives for White people and call plantations what they were - forced labor camps.

This offering is exciting and serious work that I am doing, that we are doing as keepers of our collective, historical memory. To understand how serious it is, visit @unRedacTheFacts to read research published by the Washington Post last week about how racism affects the brain. And, redacted grammar and language in historical narratives, like the passive voice, creates distance between the reader and the lived experience of people in the past. As recently published research has shown, this temporal distance creates beliefs such as, “slavery happened a long time ago, so why care about it now?” At the same time, I am encouraged by my research on redacted grammar and language, the support I receive, and I am motivated when I read or hear historical narratives from institutions that include unredacted grammar and language like the active voice.

The Allusionist Podcast Episode 170: If you are curious to hear my voice, well now you can via my first published podcast interview. I speak about unRedact the Facts, the word "plantation", and more. Have a listen - visit @unredacthefacts for the link in the profile.

With all of the reels I shared this week, it’s been real, pun intended. Time to skidaddle from underneath the city that never sleeps. Thanks to NCPH for having me.

be kind to yourself and others.

#NCPHTakeover #TPHjournal #NCPH2023 #NCPH #PublicHistory #Twitterstorians #BlackTwitterstorians #Archives #Preservation #HistoricPreservation #Museums #Interpretation #Architecture

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory is #USHistory #HonestHistory . #TeachingBlackHistory . #ActiveVoice instead of #PassiveVoice . #Comms4Good #HistComms #PublicInterest #Copyediting #Copywriting #CommNet . #unRedacTheFacts to #TellTheFullStory for #RacialEquity and #Healing

- k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (@wrkSHapkilowatt . @beyond.integrity . @blackinhistpres . @unredacthefacts)

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]]>National Council on Public History (NCPH; @publichistorian) Instagram Takeover, Day 5 of 5. (un)Redact the Facts.NCPH Instagram Takeoverk. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 20:05:39 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/national-council-on-public-history-ncph-publichistorian-instagram-takeover-day-4-black-in-historic-preservation5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:6400ff521484d01dc0541449Instagram Reel

Hello there, as we continue to enjoy the art of NYC’s subway system, I will share a bit about Black in Historic Preservation and its relationship to the word for this week: narrative.

The narrative that I have read in published reports is that Black people need mentorship, leadership training. While this might be the case, it tells one side of the story. And so, Black in Historic Preservation highlights the contributions of Black people to Historic preservation, in the present and the past. It also provides a resource to the history and historic preservation fields, and allied careers through the Job Board and most recently, with the inaugural Black in Historic Preservation Grant Fund.

Earlier this month I launched the Grant Fund. To seed this endeavor, I am committing $1,500 from wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, LLC, the home of Black in Historic Preservation. From 2011 - 2020, I lived, worked, and volunteered in Seattle. Some of that volunteering included reviewing grant applications for historic preservation projects. Happy to pay it forward with this Grant Fund.

To learn more, visit the link at @BlackInHistPres: www.blackinhistpres.com

- k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (@wrkSHapkilowatt . @beyond.integrity . @blackinhistpres . @unredacthefacts)

#NCPHTakeover #TPHjournal #NCPH2023 #NCPH #PublicHistory #Twitterstorians #BlackTwitterstorians #Archives #Preservation #HistoricPreservation #Museums #Interpretation #Architecture #UrbanPlanning #UrbanDesign

#BlackInHistPres #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory is #USHistory #RacialEquity

Credits:

1 - Black in Historic Preservation. Photo credit:  @blackinhistpres

2 - Subway Photos. Photo credit:  @iamkennedyw

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]]>National Council on Public History (NCPH; @publichistorian) Instagram Takeover, Day 4 of 5. Black in Historic Preservation.NCPH Instagram Takeoverk. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 19:45:39 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/national-council-on-public-history-ncph-publichistorian-instagram-takeover-day-3-beyond-integrity-in-x-part-ii5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:6400fce399f600428724cae6Instagram Reel

While we wait for our connecting train, shall I continue with the narrative about Beyond Integrity in (X)? Yes? OK!

To recap: A lack of architectural integrity, as reported to the Commissioners in the redacted facts of context statements, written by the architect or historic preservation consultant, led to the rulings to not nominate for landmark status.

Since its founding in 2015, in part because of research and auditing by Beyond Integrity in King County’s (@kc4culture) interns of past landmark nomination forms that exposed bias and omissions of significant cultural heritage in the context statements in the nomination forms, the Seattle Landmarks Commission has made strides to reconcile for past errors in judgment on landmark designation. And, the Commissioners have received nomination forms that tell fuller stories about the cultural significance as well like the nomination form for the Cayton-Revels House.

In this period of my career in 2015 and beyond, I observed first hand how we, architects, historians, and historic preservationists can craft a narrative in support of or against the landmark nomination of a building or site with the data we observe about it.

This decision, perhaps one of ethics, affects us all. It has the potential to affect our mental health through the loss of places that matter to us. It is, as Mindy T. Fullilove, MD stated, “root shock” or traumatic to lose sites and places. Thus, it is important to care for ourselves as we care for our careers. How do you care for your mental health?

In 2021, I established a national presence for Beyond Integrity adding an “(X)” where “X” equals any town, county, city, state, or the United States. The premiere event was a national, virtual conference where people across the country shared how they are working on a state and local level to look beyond architectural integrity in the historic landmarking process.

And, I developed an online database called “unLandmarkables”. Visit @beyond.integrity for the link to www.beyondintegrityinx.com to add to the “unLandmarkables” database.

- k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (@wrkSHapkilowatt . @beyond.integrity . @blackinhistpres . @unredacthefacts)

Credits:

1 - Beyond Integrity in (X) Conference Posters, 2021. Photo credit: @beyond.integrity

2 - Website recording, 2021. Photo credit: @beyond.integrity

3 - Other photos and subway recording. Photo credit: @iamkennedyw

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]]>National Council on Public History (NCPH; @publichistorian) Instagram Takeover, Day 3 of 5. Beyond Integrity in (X), Part II.NCPH Instagram Takeoverk. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 19:31:44 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/national-council-on-public-history-ncph-publichistorian-instagram-takeover-day-2-beyond-integrity-in-x-part-i5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:6400f9a0853a0d7c0a7398b7Instagram Reel

Let’s continue on this fantastic voyage:

Like Nick Cave, Oscar Micheaux, and others I have yet to mention like Ida B. Wells and even my own mother, Dolores Whiters, I am exploring controlling the narrative about Black people, our lived experience. For me, it is through the written word, especially in historical narratives, interpretations.

My first exposure to the power of the written word to destroy or preserve in their realm of history and historic preservation was during my time volunteering in Seattle on the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee of 4Culture and its ad hoc committee that I named, Beyond Integrity.

In 2015, I began volunteering in an organization, initially its organizer, retired Director of Preservation Services at King County’s @kc4culture Flo Lentz named, “Equity in Preservation”. By unanimous vote, my co-founders adopted the name I picked, “Beyond Integrity”.

What inspired Flo to found Beyond Integrity was the Seattle Landmarks Commission’s decision to not nominate for historic landmark designation a Black historic site in Seattle’s Central District, Liberty Bank. The primary reason for the decision was because the nomination form, written by the developer’s historic preservation consultant provided a strong enough case against the architectural integrity of the building at the time of the landmark hearing. Liberty Bank lacked enough architectural integrity to be a strong enough contender for Seattle landmark designation.

Oh, is this your stop? OK, to be continued …

- k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (@wrkSHapkilowatt . @beyond.integrity . @blackinhistpres . @unredacthefacts)

Credits:

1 - Beyond Integrity in (X) Conference Posters. Photo credit: @beyond.integrity

2 - Beyond Integrity Chalkboards. Photo credit: @iamkennedyw; Beyond Integrity’s initial community engagement activity: “I Heart This Place” chalkboard. Organizations checkout the boards for their events.

3 - Rainier Tower, my favorite Seattle Landmark. Looks like a pencil, no? Photo credit: @iamkennedyw

Oh hello, it’s kennedy (@wrshapkilowatt), your Instagram Takeover Guide for the week. This week, I am joining you from the depths of New York City’s MTA subway. Why? Well, it just happens to be one of my favorite museums.

A museum? In the subway? Yes!

Let’s return to yesterday’s posts where I introduced you to the art of Nick Cave.

Nick Cave (@nickcaveart), like pioneering author, movie producer and director Oscar Michaeux who we met yesterday, creates art that takes control of the narrative about Black people, our experience, our joy and pain, our sunshine and rain, a fuller experience and narrative.

His artwork installation in tile form at the 42nd St/Bryant Park and 42nd St/Times Sq are the reasons why NYC’s subway is at the top of my Must See Museums list.

Now, I am a full adult and know what a museum is. However, thanks to the MTA Arts + Design Program and New York City Transit, a legacy of intentional graphic design throughout the subway system, I would say going all the way back to the original tile lettering for the station names, it’s a beautiful place full of whimsy to me. That’s the narrative I created.

In addition to the leaking infrastructure that needs action, societal issues very visible in a tiny space with many causes and effects, Brooklyn’s oyster bay destroyed by the tile industry yet coming back thanks to many efforts today, the subway is also a place of beauty and whimsy. Oh, and one of my favorite movies, The Wiz (1978), probably shaped this perspective, too — see the scene where the tile-covered columns come alive and chase the scarecrow/Michael Jackson!

I’ve included in this post other tile art, too. Do you see the cats? How cool! Share your favorite art installations and their subway station locale in the comments — NYC or anywhere in the world.

- k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (@wrkSHapkilowatt . @beyond.integrity . @blackinhistpres . @unredacthefacts)

Credits:

1 - All photos by @iamkennedyw

2 - Nick Cave Tile Art by @mayerofmunich

3 - @mtaartsdesign

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]]>National Council on Public History (NCPH; @publichistorian) Instagram Takeover, Day 2 of 5. NYC’s Subway Art Museum.NCPH Instagram Takeoverk. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 18:48:22 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/national-council-on-public-history-ncph-publichistorian-instagram-takeover-day-1-continued5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:6400ef7720ed835f8478c096Instagram Reel

Hello there, it’s kennedy, (@wrkshapkilowatt) checking in for my NCPH Instagram Day 1, Evening Post.

Now that we’re on the train, let’s explore a different take on the word that so many of us know — the proposal. Whether it’s the CFP (call for proposal) or the RFP (request for proposal), if you work, study, and/or advocate in the history world, you have replied to one of these or drafted one or both of these many times. The word proposal is also the beginning of a union among humans and perhaps between buildings and humans of the romantic sort? 😊

Just for fun, for all the building lovers out there ... if you could marry a building, which building would you pick? Yes, you read that correctly, if you could marry a building, which building would you pick? Feel free to share in the comments.

Well, my answer is the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. And, this time last week, I did something beyond my wildest dreams — I walked as a model in the museum … and up, to the very top of this temple of art … in 6” heels, too.

The Guggenheim and I did not say our “I do’s”, but it was a marriage of sorts of some of my favorites and inspirations for the offering of my life and practice of architecture: the Guggenheim (@guggenheim), Nick Cave’s art (@nickcaveart), fashion, community, Frank Lloyd Wright, and architecture in general. I share this experience with you with gratitude to all involved in the program.

Perhaps we’ll see more of Nick Cave’s art in our New York subway adventures this week …

- k. kennedy Whiters, AIA (@wrkSHapkilowatt . @beyond.integrity . @blackinhistpres . @unredacthefacts)

Credits:

1 - Photo credit: an anonymous friend.

2 - Photo credit: @vajiajia

3 - Other photos: by @iamkennedyw

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]]>National Council on Public History (NCPH; @publichistorian) Instagram Takeover, Day 1 of 5. Continued.NCPH Instagram Takeoverk. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 18:12:52 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/national-council-on-public-history-ncph-publichistorian-instagram-takeover-day-1-intro5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:6400e7249450c05191a2f964

From February 20 - 24, 2023, I tookover the National Council on Public History’s Instagram account. It was their first one for 2023. To give visitors to the accounts, mine (@wrkSHapkiloWatt) and NCPH’s (@publichistorian), a taste of one of my favorite things, I presented the captions from the perspective of exploring the New York City / MTA subway system.

Also, I had the idea of picking a word of the week. Throughout the week, I wove the word I chose, “narrative”, in my captions, which were narrations about my offerings to public history, historic preservation, and my favorite art museum - the New York City / MTA subway system. It's a taste of Beyond Integrity in (X), Black in Historic Preservation, and (un)Redact the Facts sprinkled with subway art. Thanks to NCPH for having me.

I now present NCPH Instagram Takeover, Day 1, Intro.

Instagram Reel

Hello there, my name is k. kennedy Whiters (she/her), “a girl from Chicago,” specifically the Chicagoland-area. Based in NYC, I own my own boutique architecture firm (@wrkshapkilowatt) that specializes in historic preservation, owner’s representation/construction project management, and racially equitable communications. While we both wait for the train in the largest public transit system in the United States, I will share a bit about me and my perspective on the word “narrative”. What might seem to be a week’s time, will go by quickly!

Throughout the course of my personal history I have lived in multiple places: Seattle, Elkins, WV, overseas, and the longest in the Chicagoland-area. It was my experience on the West Side of Chicago that motivated me to return to college to become an architect.
When you think about the West Side of Chicago, what do you think about? If you immediately think of crime and violence or “a bad neighborhood”, there is more to the story. If your immediate thoughts were of violence, etc., I understand, because this is the perception we receive in media, historical interpretations, a narrative that the people who live there, lived there in the past did not write, or someone like me who lived across the street and worked there. There is beauty everywhere and the West Side and the South Side of Chicago are no different.

Did you know that there is a building designed by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s draftspersons, William Drummond, on the West Side of Chicago? Or, that there is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in the heart of the West Side? All of these facts I learned while researching the history of the West Side for my year of service there for AmeriCorps. Because of this research, instead of continuing after AmeriCorps to medical school, I returned to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to complete dual masters degrees in architecture and urban planning, with a concentration in history and preservation.

This week, I will share how I have leveraged my education and experience in the name of service of unredacting the facts of historical narratives for racial equity and healing.

As it is #BlackHistoryMonth, more about “The Girl from Chicago,” the movie, not me:

• The Girl from Chicago (1932) written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951), a film that critics consider one of his greatest works. Micheaux was a pioneer author, book publisher, movie director and producer of over 44 silent and sound films. He portrayed contemporary Black life through a lens of reality as opposed to the caricatures of minstrel shows. And, he portrayed his lived experience as a Black man. For the aforementioned reasons critics considered him controversial yet still, he was the most successful Black filmmaker of the first half of the 20th C. Netflix subscribers, there is a great documentary about the history of Black film, "Is The Black Enough For You" (2022) – Micheaux is a continuous thread in the narrative. And, the Criterion Collection has an Oscar Micheaux film collection.

Credits:

1 - Oscar Micheaux. THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO. USA, 1932. Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Used for historical education purposes only.

2 - Oscar Micheaux. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Micheaux

3 - "The Girl from Chicago" Movie Poster. Micheaux Productions, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_from_Chicago#cite_note-2

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]]>National Council on Public History (NCPH; @publichistorian) Instagram Takeover, Day 1 of 5. Intro.k. kennedy WhitersThu, 02 Mar 2023 18:03:12 +0000https://wrkshapkilowatt.com/blog/black-history-month-an-opportunity-to-unredact-the-facts5fa361427463a561764b8625:5fa46149e20e750302dfd69b:63e15ce6d07a936d1565b19bThis article first appeared on Medium.com on February 2, 2023.

Disclaimer: In this article, I mention organizations by name not to shame them, but to serve as examples, learning tools. As a scientist by educational training and lifelong learner whose favorite subject in school was math, I appreciate the benefit of learning from and dissecting examples. Thank you.

Is it the ethical duty of architects, historians, historic preservationists, journalists, communications teams, teachers to (un)redact the facts of historical narratives to tell a fuller history? Something to think about as many professionals prepare to post social media posts and write articles for another Black History Month in the US.

Grammar matters. When it comes to writing about Black History in the US, my history, our US History, for centuries, the way you have written about it has done the most harm to those that need the most care at the center of this historical narrative — Black people. To not only be the recipient of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse for centuries in the US, but to then have the narrative about the abuse not state who murdered us, who abused us, who enslaved us exacerbates the abuse.

It’s a form of gaslighting where the historical narratives have not been ones of accountability. They continue to omit who abused Black people and benefited from the abuse — White people. The choice of redacted grammar and language (RGL) continues to be harmful to me as it makes my pain and my ancestors’ trauma feel invisible. Instead, redacted grammar and language makes White ancestors invisible in the historical narratives that journalists, architects, preservationists, and more write about slavery, lynching, redlining, and more in the passive voice.

It is risky to provide a critique about someone’s writing. And for the subject at hand, I am willing to take the risk. If an organization or individual states on their website or in public that they stand for racial equity, stand for telling the full American story, and they write in the passive voice or speak in the passive voice about slavery, they cannot frame their mouth to say “White people” when talking about White people lynching Black people and instead use euphemisms for White people like the “wealthy elite,” they do not stand for racial equity.

Instead, they are a co-conspirator for white supremacy. The passive voice is the grammar of omission and to uphold white supremacy, co-conspirators erase anything that might associate White people and whiteness with anything bad, like the horrors of history. It creates psychological distance on many levels:

:: between the author and the reader, i.e., a level of objectivity

:: between the person/people (White person/White people) who committed the action verb (enslaved, lynched)

Breathe. Now, let’s continue.

Hi, I am an architect who specializes in historic preservation and managing construction projects on behalf of the building owner or tenant. I am also a Black woman, a writer, an artist, and a business owner. When I was a graduate student in architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I received advice from someone, maybe a professor, that to succeed as an architect, it is important to “know how to write”.

Know how to write. I wonder how many architects and other professionals have received similar advice. During my graduate studies in Champaign, I took a class in professional writing — not in the School of Architecture, but in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. It was a required course for my other master’s degree in urban planning. A favorite course of mine, one of the many things I remember from that course is that words have the power to shape our perception of the world and of each other. The message: Language and sentence structure, grammar, have power. Specifically, the story we shape from the data we collect as urban planners has power. We can frame a narrative about a community simply by the words we use and how we assemble those words — just like placement of walls and doors on an architectural floor plan. The same applies to architects — the stories we write about the places we design have power and influence over the way we perceive each other.

I return to the abridged version of the advice I received as a graduate student: know how to write. In spite of the education we receive as far back as junior high school, most of us do not receive enough emphasis on the “how” and the ethics behind it. Writing that does not expand on “how”, is void of context and nuance, i.e., the passive voice, omits facts about a place. This omission might serve your client if you are writing a de-nomination form for a potential historic landmark, but it does not serve the community-at-large and their collective memory. The result of writing devoid of “how” of history? Landmark nomination forms in their municipal archives, full of redacted history because of this omission by the author of the nomination form. And, it snowballs because researchers cite the nomination form in the passive language the author used — the redacted history lives on.

My earliest exposure to “know how to write” began in the seventh grade when my English teacher told my classmates and I that we use the passive voice for “professional writing”. As an adult, I now see that the passive voice is a way to evade responsibility, to hide who did what to whom. Although, it might be best to use it in a legal context to, for example, evade libel. Also to use a legal term, the passive voice creates redacted facts about events and places — it does not tell a full story about history. It does not tell a full account of history. And, if we look to truth and reconciliation as a means of healing our country, the passive voice and other redacted grammar and language in historical narratives will not get us there.

If we examine historical narratives about US History, in textbooks, lectures, and more, it is a redacted history that we often read and hear. This circumstance is especially the case of uncomfortable history, often where non-White people experience abuse at the hands of White people, across the spectrum of income, both wealthy and poor. And the students who learn this redacted history and learn to write in the passive voice as “professional writing,” become the professional architects, historians, historic preservation consultants, and journalists who write context statements and historical narratives about buildings and sites.

Beyond Integrity. How I began on this journey of truth telling in historical narratives goes back to 2015 and miles from Champaign, IL, in Seattle, WA. The year 2015 was the year that I began volunteering in an organization, initially its organizer, retired Director of Preservation Services at 4Culture Flo Lentz named, “Equity in Preservation”. By unanimous vote, my co-founders adopted the name I picked, “Beyond Integrity”.

What inspired Flo to found Beyond Integrity was the Seattle Landmarks Commission’s decision to not nominate for historic landmark designation a Black historic site in Seattle’s Central District, Liberty Bank. The primary reason for the decision was because the nomination form written by the developer’s historic preservation consultant provided a strong enough case against the architectural integrity of the building at the time of the landmark hearing. Liberty Bank lacked enough architectural integrity to be a strong enough contender for Seattle landmark designation. Since then, in part because of research and auditing of past landmark nomination forms that exposed bias in the context statements in the nomination forms, the Seattle Landmarks Commission has made strides to reconcile for past errors in judgment. A lack of architectural integrity, as reported to the Commissioners in the redacted facts of context statements, written by the architect or historic preservation consultant, led to the rulings to not nominate for landmark status.

In this period of my career, I observed first hand how we, architects, historians, and historic preservationists can craft a narrative in support of or against the landmark nomination of a building or site with the data we observe about it. This narrative can harm or support it, fulfilling the architectural integrity criteria of the nomination form in the eyes of the landmark commission. In the case of Liberty Bank, it was my graduate course in professional writing come to life, almost ten years later, in a landmark de-nomination form written by architects and historic preservation consultants, hired by a developer who did not support landmarking because they wanted to demolish the Bank and build in its place affordable housing — a topic for another article.

(un)Redact the Facts. My journey continued in 2020 — I know, 2020 seems like yesterday. The National Trust for Historic Preservation (“NTHP” and “National Trust”) owns nine (9) historic sites and co-stewards 11 historic sites. Like many institutions and corporations, the National Trust made a post for Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2020. Their post addressed graffiti on a building they co-steward, the Decatur House. It was a wake-up call for a national institution. While the post shared how the National Trust “tells the full American story” by highlighting the contributions of African Americans to the United States, in the preservation of buildings related to Black history, their post failed at telling the full story of chattel slavery in the US by using the passive voice to describe what happened in the Decatur House in its early life.

The direct quote from the Instagram post:

“This place, where people were held in bondage within view of the White House, has particular meaning in this time. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Historical Association honor this by telling the full story of our history, by elevating and preserving the enormous contributions African Americans have made to our nation …”

In a direct message to their Instagram account and then via email to NTHP, I suggested an active voice revision with the direct object, White people, clearly stating who did what to whom in the Decatur House:

“This place, where White people held Black people in bondage …”

By using the passive voice, the National Trust gave a whitewashed or redacted account of the Decatur House’s history. With the use of the active voice, these revisions I provided (un)redacted facts about this landmark that sits across the street from the White House.

Due to my persistence, I received a response from Paul Edmonson, the Executive Director of National Trust, but no revision during the summer of 2020 or by the time of this publication. I sent subsequent (un)redacted revisions to their social media and online publications that told a fuller story about US chattel slavery. They did revise one of the online publications per my (un)redacted revision. But, for a major revision that speaks to their 2018 work with James Madison’s Montpelier on “Inclusive and Equitable Narratives,” they did not cite me or attribute the revision to me. Citing Black women is a part of inclusive and equitable narratives, for it lets us and others know that our voices matter.

As of December 2022, the National Trust continues to state they are Telling the Full American Story while they use the passive voice to describe slavery, describing plantations as places where, “Black people were enslaved”. In 2021, thirty plus people and an international design organization signed on to a Call to Action addressed to the National Trust to change the grammar and language they use in historical narratives about slavery and still no change.

In May and June 2022, I revisited unredaction on Wikipedia where I unredacted the definition of the word “plantation” in my first Edit-a-thon called, “unRedact-a-thon”. Ironically, an editor redacted my unredactions in the few articles I edited, most notably, the Plantations in the Southern United States article. The editor explained that some might view my edits as being “controversial”. Yes, replacing “plantation” with “forced labor camps, i.e., plantations” might be controversial, but an accurate description of places where White people forced generations of Black people to work, without pay under threat of torturous abuse such as rape and murder.

Given that the preservation of forced labor camps is a prominent fixture in our profession, I encourage, no, demand that you write with empathy for your audience, the audience that matters the most — the victims of the abuse at these places of contention, Black people. unRedact the facts about plantations and use language that clearly describes them as the tortuous places that they were, therefore clearly describing the experiences of the generations of Black people who lived and worked there. Write with empathy for your audience — more on that later.

In October 2022, I visited the MASS Design website, curious about the firm, I explored a few of the project pages. When I arrived at the page dedicated to their design of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, I noticed that their narrative omitted something, rather the two key groups of people at the focal point of the memorial — lynching. In not one paragraph did I find a mention of “White people”, the perpetrators of over 3,000 lynchings of mostly Black women and Black men, and not one mention of Black people, the recipients of the brutal crimes committed by White people. As people recall or research the tragedy of lynchings, one finds that White people commemorated these brutal murders with postcards. Sometimes, eerily at the forefront of the postcards are White children surrounded by a crown of White men and women.

A sentence from the project narrative: “The community remembrance process allows communities to confront history by becoming active participants in the commemoration of lives unjustly taken.”

In 2019, the Library of Congress (LOC) published a tool for teachers to help them use primary sources from the Library’s collection as a part of their larger blog that premiered in 2011 called “Teaching with the Library of Congress”. In it is a “Teacher’s Guide Analyzing Books & Other Printed Texts,” that, in summary, provides guidelines for teachers to encourage students to “Observe-Reflect-Question”. Under the Question column of the worksheet LOC guides teachers to, “ask questions to lead to more observations and reflections”, to think about the following questions when they review LOC materials: “What do you wonder about … who? what? when? where? why? how?”

Viewing the sentence from MASS’ description of the EJI memorial through a lens of critical thinking, I question: Who unjustly took the lives? Whose lives did they take? Why did they take the lives? There is so much missing in language and grammar that waxes poetically about the horror of lynching of Black people, some who were pregnant Black women. We cannot afford to write redacted history that treats White people like invisible players of our history by omitting them in our historical narratives of uncomfortable history related to our design projects.

Returning to the critical thinking about MASS’ historical narrative: The answer to the first question is White people. The answers to the second question were Black people, Chinese people, and Indigenous people. Of the over 4,000 people who White people lynched — the vast majority were Black, a few were White, White people who advocated for Black people to have “equal rights”. So, why, out of the 367 words to describe the memorial, did MASS not include the words, “Black people” or “White people”? MASS is not alone in architects and designers in writing redacted historical narratives. And yet, I am encouraged that we can change because we as designers already engage in a process of “revise and resubmit” called participatory design. With the feedback that I am providing, we can revise the way we write historical narratives and thus practice racial equity.

For some educational fun this Black History Month in the name of unRedacting the Facts, consider playing Redacted BINGO! Learn more about the game, register, and view the press release here.

Empathy for the audience. On November 21, 2022, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced on their blog that they updated their equality/equity bicycle visual and how the change came about. After receiving unsolicited feedback on the graphic, RWJF surveyed their newsletter subscribers and implemented the feedback they received from 1,100 respondents. This feedback loop is equity in action, participatory design. It is empathy in action.

From the article, written by RWJF’s Creative Services Officer/Brand Officer, Joan Barlow, the feedback they received on the initial visual, “led to many conversations, and they reinforced our view that our bike visual did not work well for everyone. So we concluded that it might be time to refresh it.”

I commend RWJF’s awareness and accountability. Joan concludes, “I have always believed that good design advances conversations and makes choices clearer. With our new equality/equity visual, we hope we have done that. I try to approach this, and all design challenges, with empathy for the audience. I think that makes me a better designer. But this one is very personal to me, as I know firsthand the importance of equity and removing barriers.” If a participatory process can occur for revising graphic design, then it can happen for another field of the arts, yes? Perhaps, the art of writing historical narratives in the active voice instead of the passive voice?

I reflect on these questions and I reflect on what Joan said, “empathy for the audience” as I advocate for replacing the passive voice with the active voice in historical narratives about slavery, lynching, i.e., Black History/US History/White History. And, as a Black woman, like Joan, “I know firsthand the importance of equity and removing barriers”.

If we can design with empathy for the audience, then we can write with empathy for the audience. And I would even go so far as specifically stating the audience that needs the most care in the narrative. In the case of historical narratives about slavery, lynching of Black people by White people, etc., writing in the active voice demonstrates empathy for the audience that needs the most care — descendants of enslaved Africans and their ancestors — the past, present, and future. Speaking to my fellow architects, we have a standard of care to uphold. To me, that extends to the written and spoken word.

Empathy for your audience is something to think about as we publish articles in celebration of Black History Month, give talks related to Black History, and host events for what is in essence US History. And, something to think about when you write context statements for your landmark nomination forms for local and state designation. For, everything we publish about the built environment is a part of the collective body of work that someone after us will read and cite.

Again, I ask: As professionals in the preservation of cultural heritage, is it our ethical duty to (un)redact the facts in our historical narratives to tell a fuller history for racial equity? For architects who are members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), according to the organization’s 2020 Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, perhaps it is. From the Code’s “Canon I”:

E.S. 1.3 Natural and Cultural Heritage: Members should respect and help conserve their natural and cultural heritage while striving to improve the environment and the quality of life within it

Redacted language and grammar (RGL) does not tell the full story about natural and cultural heritage. Instead, it aligns with the goals of white supremacy — to create psychological distance from and dehumanize Black people and their historical experience. The use of RGL is the same as banning books and history courses on African American history, current legal practices in many US states. If your goal for using redacted grammar and language in historical narratives is to be objective, dispassionate, and neutral in tone, then perhaps question why you choose to be any of these things for a painful history that calls for taking a stand for racial equity and democracy.

be kind to yourself and others.

(un)Redact the Facts is an initiative of wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, a boutique architecture firm owned and operated by k. kennedy Whiters, AIA, that specializes in historic preservation, owner’s representation/construction management, and racial equity communications.

k. kennedy Whiters, AIA is an architect with licenses to practice in New York and Washington State, a published writer, an artist, and a business owner. She was a 2008 recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Mildred Colodny Fellowship. In 2021, she founded Black in Historic Preservation, (un)Redact the Facts, and Beyond Integrity in (X). The latter was a national historic preservation conference that focused on the topic of architectural integrity of historic landmarks. She’s been known to hug a tree and a building or two.

What goes bump in the night and will come back to haunt you if it is not protected? Perhaps, your favorite landmarked building? More on that later, stay tuned … But first, the highlights of the second NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting of 2021 on Jan. 12, 2021!

Music featured in today’s blog:

• Thank You performed by Dido

• Up on the Roof performed by The Drifters

• Who Can I Run To performed by The Jones Sisters

Today’s presentation was a return visit for the owner’s architect, BSKS Architects, and structural engineer. The previous design proposed an 8-story building - today, we saw a 7-story building, with a recessed 7th Floor penthouse. In all, the proposed building responds well to the historic fabric of the NoHo Historic District: East-coast sourced red brick and terra cotta facades, a uniform window pattern of four double-hung windows per floor that is characteristic of the groupings throughout NoHo.

All of the above is well and good textbook preservation and structural design, but what could happen to the Merchant’s House Museum, built by tradespeople in 1832, a place with strong ties to NYC’s early Irish population and their indentured servitude, what could happen pre-, during, and post-construction? A couple of things might occur, per presentations made by its staff and supporters during public testimony:

• Pre-Construction: An estimated $1.8M to pack archives

• Pre-Construction: An estimated $1.0M to prepare their interiors for construction

• During Construction: Estimated costs for lost revenue and office rental because they would close the Museum during the construction.

• Post-Construction: An estimated $1.4 - 1.5M to repair their interiors post-construction

• In total, the Museum estimates their neighbor’s proposed construction would cost them $5.0M. A non-profit supporter noted that construction in 1988 to the east of Merchant’s resulted in $2M in repair costs to the building plus closure for two years.

• And the intangible cost? Disturbing the spirits within, that’s right, a supporter, in their testimony, expressed concern that due to paranormal activity at the Merchant’s House, approving its neighbor's construction project might provoke undesirable activity of the ghost kind.

With the estimated, monetary and social hardship to their neighbor, perhaps someone could broker a deal, do some outreach on the owner’s side (27 East 4th) to the Merchant’s House Museum, where the owner would offer to offset the projected hardship to this community asset? There are precedents of this across the country, such as in Seattle, where a historic preservation non-profit served as a bridge between a developer and the community to reach an understanding about a proposed design that raised concerns with the community. This conversation took place, pre-2020, in the setting of an in-person community outreach meeting. Organic conversations like this are hard to come by these days in the Zoom setting of the LPC, albeit extremely convenient for so many to attend the meeting, yet have closed chats perhaps for legal and privacy purposes.

Municipalities require developers to offset the cost of their development when they build new construction such as suburban housing developments in the form of new street paving, new sidewalks, and new landscaping, among other items. Why? Because their construction damages this infrastructure in the development of their new construction - it creates an inconvenience to their neighbors.

In the case of 27 East 4th and the Merchant’s House Museum, as a proactive measure, perhaps the city could advocate for the neighbors of Merchant’s House Museum, an NYC and National Landmark, to offset the undo hardship their construction will cause to Merchant’s. Or, 27 East 4th and/or their contractor can take the reactive approach, and prepare to cover the costs of repairs via insurance claims against them from Merchant’s House? Any volunteers for the former, proactive approach?

Watch the hearing on 27 East 4th Street, Manhattan, by clicking here.

If you’re a historic preservation enthusiast, want to become involved in your local government, curious about what’s happening to a building in your neighborhood, or all of the above (like moi!), then attending the local Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting might be of interest to you!

In my neck of the woods, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission holds their meetings via Zoom and YouTube on Tuesdays. Check their website for the exact meeting details.

Through this blog, I plan on providing my take on the activity. To be expected in the largest US city, things get juicy for the preservation nerds out there.

First up, the meeting that closed October on Oct. 27, 2020!

There were many highlights in this five to six-hour meeting:

In response to the buffer at the ninth story level, a representative from the developer, Concern Housing Partners, explained the challenges with this modification:

• the restoration of the church is an estimated seven-figures.

• reducing the height of the multi-family tower would increase the construction cost of each unit to half a million per unit. This cost increase, they predict, would be above what the state of NY is willing to pay for each affordable housing unit. (It would eviscerate the pro forma.)

• without a CoA, the developer cannot receive a construction permit, causing delays in schedule, and a potential threat to funding for the project. What’s at stake is a project that would bring not only affordable housing, but housing for veterans, and food for those in need, to an area of the city that needs it the most.

Overall, a historic preservation intervention to create a larger buffer between the landmark and its adjacent addition would reduce the number of affordable housing units, and thus position the total development project at risk of failure.

With the above stated risk, some Commissioners believed it, affordable housing, placed undue pressure on the Commission to approve the CoA, lest they be viewed by others as being in opposition to affordable housing. Several Commissioners believed that it was not the job of the Commission to, as one Commissioner stated, “get mired in the social issues,” but to focus on historic preservation when approving a project for a Certificate of Appropriateness. As one Commissioner quipped, “just because this is the Bronx doesn’t mean we should not focus on historic preservation like in other neighborhoods.” Yes, a valid point - every neighborhood deserves a lens of historic preservation applied to their projects. In the past and present, it is a standard of care afforded only to properties of high style, associated with predominantly White, cis-gendered, able-bodied sites and neighborhoods.

The Commission and historic preservation professionals, must apply the tenets of historic preservation to alterations. The universally accepted and enforced tenet, per the bylaws of most Commissions are the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, 2017, published by the National Park Service, which state that they do not recommend, among many things:

“Constructing a new addition on or adjacent to a primary elevation of the building which negatively impacts the building’s historic character.

Constructing a new addition that is as large as or larger than the historic building, which visually overwhelms it (i.e., results in the diminution or loss of its historic character.”

Yet, the question at hand: Does the LPC get a pass on the “social issues” when evaluating the appropriateness of modifications to a landmark or adjacent to a landmark? In neighborhoods like the Bronx, that need more affordable housing, and development that does not displace the current residents, i.e., mindful gentrification, the preservation community, developers, designers, etc., must consider not only historic preservation, but also the constraints that are in fact opportunities of the site, which include the social issues like providing affordable housing. When looking through a lens of equity in preservation at a landmark in the Bronx, and other neighborhoods / boroughs, there is a pressing socio-economic need that the city, as a whole, must address, through affordable housing and other means. It’s an “all hands on deck” situation.

SPOILER ALERT: It was back to the drawing board for St. James Church and their development team, to work on massing and sizing, that is appropriate for the site. Which left everyone wondering, “Is any building appropriate on this site?” To be continued …

Watch the hearing by clicking here.