Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

A pilot program is underway to bring African American young professionals into historic preservation and related career paths, such as architecture and conservation, and raise awareness of the cultural legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is partnering with the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s HOPE Crew; Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, Maryland; and the National Park Service’s Western Center for Historic Preservation on “Touching History: Preservation in Practice.” Six MSU architecture students spent June 11-21 training at the Center, located at White Grass Ranch in Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

A little one-room country schoolhouse in Waubeka, Wisconsin is on the National Register of Historic Places for its connection to the origins of Flag Day. It was there that a 19-year-old teacher and his students held the first known observance of Flag Birth Day on June 14, 1885, using a 10-inch 38-star flag propped up in a glass bottle. Teacher Bernard Cigrand had his students, mostly descendants of Luxembourger immigrants, honor Old Glory by “reading essays they had written and discussing the flag’s history and meaning,” according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. However, a full three years prior to Stonewall, a “sip-in” was staged at another New York City establishment, Julius’ Bar. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, Julius’ Bar, located at the corner of West 10th Street and Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, was built in 1826. After serving as a grocery store, the structure has been a bar since 1864.

Aimee Jorjani testified today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C. on her nomination to become the first full-time chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP).

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the committee’s ranking member, said the ACHP has an important mission, ensuring federal agencies are good stewards of the nation’s heritage, and will be served well by a full-time chairman.

“I think this change is in keeping with the importance of the office and its mission,” Senator Cantwell said. “I hope the change will increase the stature and independence of the council and strengthen their voice within this Administration. “

In May, we celebrate the rich cultures and heritage that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have contributed to the history of the United States.