Brent Leggs facts for kids

Demond "Brent" Leggs (born 22 November 1972) is an African American architectural historian and preservationist. He is from Paducah, Kentucky. He is best known for starting the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This fund has raised over $150 million since 2017. It helps save important historic Black places across the country.

Brent Leggs has changed how people think about historic preservation. He believes it's not just about old buildings. It's also about helping communities grow and become stronger. He says preservation is "about economic development" and "the empowerment of people as much as it's about the history."

Brent Leggs' Education

Brent Leggs first studied marketing at the University of Kentucky. He also earned his MBA there. Later, he joined the University of Kentucky's program for historic preservation. This program is part of its School of Architecture. The National Trust for Historic Preservation helped him with scholarships.

He is one of only a few African Americans working in this field. However, he has helped many others get started in preservation.

Brent Leggs' Work in Preservation

Brent Leggs started his career by studying Rosenwald schools in Kentucky. These schools were built for African American children in the early 1900s. During this work, he found out his own parents went to Rosenwald schools. This experience showed him how much "physical places have in shaping cultural memory."

His early work included managing projects for important sites. These sites were named National Treasures by the National Trust. Some examples are Joe Frazier's Gym in Philadelphia, Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey, and Villa Lewaro. Villa Lewaro was the estate of Madam C. J. Walker in Irvington, New York.

Using his business skills, Leggs created a program called the Northeast African American Historic Places Outreach Program. Its main idea is "the Business of Preservation." The goal is to create a group of leaders in the region. These leaders work to save African American landmarks. Leggs now advises city leaders and property owners. He teaches them how to use historical sites to help their businesses and culture.

Many of these sites are in Alabama, especially Birmingham. They are often linked to the Civil Rights Movement. He has also helped save sites at America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He helped preserve Nina Simone's birthplace in Tryon, North Carolina. He also saved John and Alice Coltrane's home in Huntington, New York. The work on Nina Simone's birthplace shows how Leggs likes to work with local people. They find new ways to use preserved historical sites. This also shows his dedication to involving African American women in jazz and civil rights.

As part of his work, Leggs has helped many African American sites become recognized as historically important. In 2024, he was featured in Bloomberg magazine. He talked about the Action Fund's work. He said, "Our industry has celebrated the grand architectural mansions, but that’s not the experience that you have with a Black vernacular site. To shift our industry’s understanding of what is worthy of preservation, both intellectually and in practice, was a big moment."

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

Why the Action Fund Started

In the 21st century, there was a big discussion about monuments. Some monuments honored Confederate soldiers and politicians. People debated if these monuments should stay. In 2017, protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to the death of Heather Heyer. This event made many people think about history and preservation.

After this, in 2018, Brent Leggs wrote in Essence magazine. He wrote about saving sites important to African American history. He said it was very important to do so. He gave credit to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. This group was led by Mary B. Talbert. They started the "Black preservation movement" by saving Frederick Douglass' home in Washington a century ago.

Leggs explained that the National Trust for Historic Preservation was created to "help tell the full American story." He said that when history is "blanched and distorted" (meaning, made less diverse or changed) by not showing everyone's story, it hurts our understanding of today and our future growth.

Because of this, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund was created. Its goal is "to move the narrative beyond confederate heritage." It wants to "ensure the preservation of national treasures integral to the full African American story." Leggs believes the Fund helps "reconstruct" America's national identity.

This Fund is the "largest-ever campaign to preserve African-American historic sites." In its first year, it received over 800 applications. These applications asked for almost $91 million in grants. The Fund is a multi-year effort. It gets money from private groups and wealthy people. It does not get money from the federal government. Leggs has been very important in getting financial support for the Fund. He has convinced groups like the JPB Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to donate.

How the Action Fund Helps Communities

The Fund does many things to help. It trains young people in preservation skills. It also researches how saving historical sites helps communities become stronger. The Fund uses this research to show leaders the value of preservation.

Leggs and the Action Fund know that historic preservation can be expensive, but it can also be profitable. They help communities find "adaptive reuses" for old spaces. This means finding new ways to use historic buildings. This often challenges old ideas about what historical preservation is.

Leggs has written that the Fund wants to "reveal the hidden, and sometimes willfully obscured, layers of history at all historic sites." This means adding information to existing historical sites. This information might have been left out before. This is especially true for the history of slavery in the United States. Years ago, Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. encouraged the National Park Service to recognize slavery's role in their displays.

Sometimes, Leggs is asked to help save a place that is in very bad shape. In 2013, he got involved with saving Shockoe Bottom in Richmond, VA. Many of the old archaeological remains there had been destroyed. The Fund believes that historical sites can still be important for cultural memory, even if they are damaged. This is especially true for African American history.

Places the Fund Has Helped

The movie Green Book (2018) brought attention to The Negro Motorist Green Book. This book listed safe places for Black travelers during segregation. Sites from this book are part of the Action Fund's future plans. The Fund announces new awards every year.

In 2019, some new sites that received support included:

• Langston Hughes' house in Harlem, NYC
• The Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, NY
• Satchel Paige's home in Kansas City, Missouri
• The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
• The Forum in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood
• The African Meeting House in Boston, MA
• The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina

Brent Leggs' Academic Work and Awards

Brent Leggs has taught at several universities. He was a "Clinical Assistant Professor" at the University of Maryland's School of Architecture. He also taught at the Boston Architectural College. He taught at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design as a Loeb Fellow. This honor is given to people who are passionate about making communities better. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania.

He helped write a book called Preserving African American Historic Places (2012). The Smithsonian Institution called it a very important book for saving African American historic sites. It gives tools to protect these important landmarks. He also contributed to another book, Preservation and Social Inclusion (2020). He has appeared on C-Span several times to talk about his work.

In 2018, he received the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award.