Historic Sites and Black Self-Worth

By Jenée Desmond-Harris, The Root

African-American Experience Fund director on the importance of learning the whole American story

The Washington, D.C.-based African American Experience Fund, a program of the National Park Foundation, is dedicated to supporting, preserving and celebrating historic and national park sites that tell the story of black people’s history in America. But the organization’s work isn’t just about the maintenance of structures or setting up tours. It’s to ensure that “our whole national story is passed on faithfully, completely and accurately.”

Over the next year, the AAEF will tell that story in part by joining with the National Park Service to plan celebrations around the country commemorating significant moments in civil rights history, including the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. By doing so, Executive Director Lydia Sermons told The Root, “We hope to get more individuals engaged in telling the under-told and untold stories of African-American history.” Sermons weighed in on the lesser-known sites from coast to coast that she hopes people visit (there’s much more than the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, she says), her theory about why schools and parents alike are falling short when it comes to teaching African-American history, and her belief that an enriched understanding of the roles blacks have played in this country will have a direct impact on the community’s sense of self-worth and hope for the future.

Read the interview with Lydia Sermons here.

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