Representing Underrepresented Histories with Seven to Save

For the 25th Anniversary of our flagship Seven to Save program, we wanted to look back with a thematic retrospective – highlighting seven themes we’ve seen pop up in our listings over the past 25 years. Over the course of the year, we’ll be digging into our STS archive to highlight places across the state that help tell a broader story of preservation in New York.

A house in the Rapp Road Historic District, a historically African American neighborhood in Albany.

The histories and places of marginalized communities tend to be at high risk of erasure. In terms of our built environment, communities that have been systematically disenfranchised and disinvested in through policy decisions and redlining are also at the highest risk of displacement, disinvestment, demolition, and gentrification. Amplifying underrepresented histories and supporting local communities is essential to a strong preservation movement.

When working with community members through the Seven to Save program, it is key for the League to bolster the work already being done by local advocates. It is not necessarily our job to come in and declare a place important — local communities are able to decide that for themselves. Rather, the League can play an important role supporting and advocating alongside the people with roots in these places.

Beverly Bardequez poses with the Rapp Road historical marker in 2019. Miss Beverly passed away in 2022.

Our 2016 listing of the Rapp Road Historic District is a good example. Rapp Road is a Great Migration community in Albany. Many of the original families came from the same small town of Shubuta Mississippi in search of more opportunities in the North during the mid-20th century. Despite encroaching development, the community persisted and local residents were invested in their history. Local advocates worked with historian Jennifer Lemak to get the neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 — the only historic district in Albany listed because of its African American history. The Rapp Road Historical Association (RRHA) was founded a few years later in 2006. By the time the League included Rapp Road on our Seven to Save list, RRHA was well established and great strides had already been taken to recognize the district’s importance. The Seven to Save listing was a strategic one, meant to call greater attention to the history of Rapp Road and help make a case for its preservation and stewardship. In 2017, the League secured a grant from the William J. Pomeroy Foundation of Syracuse to install a historical marker for the district. Then-RRHA President Beverly Bardequez said, "The Preservation League's willingness to partner with us as one of the Seven to Save sites has afforded the Rapp Road Historical Association more exposure and respect within the City of Albany.” In the years since, the League has continued to be available to local advocates, writing support letters and offering technical services whenever called upon. We were also honored to host a conversation with RRHA focused on the Great Migration in New York (along with scholars Jennifer Lemak and Carla DuBose-Simons) in 2021. Despite the increased awareness of the significance of the Rapp Road community, the neighborhood remains at risk due to intense development pressure.

A large group photo on the beach at SANS, courtesy of Donnamarie Barnes.

At the far end of Long Island, another historically African American community is facing similar challenges. Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest & Ninevah Subdivisions, known as SANS, was founded by sisters Maude Terry and Amaza Lee Meredith as a vacation community where Black people could feel safe and welcome during a time of intense segregation. At the time, the land wasn’t particularly valuable or desirable — the real estate market in the Hamptons has since exploded, and the prime waterfront properties of SANS are in high demand. Most of the vernacular residential structures in this community were built by the residents and are typically modest dwellings. With the value of the land skyrocketing, locals are increasingly being pushed out to make way for new residents and large new construction. The League included SANS on the 2020-2021 Seven to Save list to support the local advocates who were working hard to share the story of their community and increase awareness of its historic significance. That fight is ongoing, but we have been heartened that local preservation advocates have been successful in getting their story to a much broader audience, including features in the New York Times and CBS News.

Shameika Ingram stands in front of the Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church in Watertown. A Seven to Save banner can be seen on the door behind her.

In 2022, the Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church in Watertown was designated a Seven to Save. This church with ties to the Underground Railroad has been without an active congregation since 2012, but it has long served as an anchor for the African American community of Jefferson County. Led by former Watertown resident Shameika Ingram of Preservation in Color, a grassroots coalition has been working hard to stabilize the church, which is in dire need of extensive rehabilitation work, and is seeking ways to return the building to active use. Thomas Memorial is a testament to the struggles and achievements of Watertown's African American community. Its original congregation was formed in 1878, consisting of many railroad workers, some of whom were formerly enslaved and many who were active abolitionists. Under the leadership of Frank Thomas, for whom the church is named, members of the congregation built the church themselves in 1909. Descendants of Frank Thomas continue to live in the community, linking the past to the present. The League was eager to support local efforts in Watertown, and since 2022 we have provided a platform for the Friends of Thomas Memorial to share their story; we secured a grant from the Northern NY Community Foundation to hire a summer intern to research the church’s history; supported the group in their application to the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which resulted in a $100,000 Preserving Black Churches Grant; and the League was thrilled to provide capital funding through our inaugural Preservation Opportunity Fund grant.

These are just a few examples of grassroots preservationists working to amplify undertold stories. The League believes strongly that preservation is for everyone — and that telling a fuller story is essential to our statewide work. Seven to Save is one tool we have to do that.