In this Zoom webinar, we’ll hear from the people behind the Pyrrhus Concer Action Committee design team as they discuss their journey to memorialize and reclaim the Pyrrhus Concer Homestead on Long Island. Demolished in 2014, the Pyrrhus Concer Homestead was finally recognized as a Historic Landmark by Southampton Village in January 2021. Pieces were salvaged before the house was torn down and preservationists have been working to bring it back to life and properly interpret it ever since.
According to the Southampton African American Museum, “While a modest dwelling, it was a rare surviving example of Long Island vernacular architecture, similar to the few documented (mostly no longer extant) 19th century African American homes. Moreover, its provenance as the homestead of a prominent African American community member made it meaningful and significant to many residents of Southampton.”
Though born into slavery, over the course of his life he would become one of the most well respected members of the Southampton community. After being freed as an adult, Concer went on to have a long and storied career as a whaler and boatsteerer. He was one of, if not the first African Americans to enter Japan. And thanks to well-kept records including whaling logs and documents related to his local philanthropy, Pyrrhus Concer’s life is one of the most complete histories of a formerly enslaved person in America. The fight to save, landmark, and resurrect the Pyrrhus Concer Homestead is a story worth exploring, with lessons to be learned for any preservationist interested in issues of equity and justice.
Part of the League's Future of Preservation webinar series. Thank you to our program sponsor, the Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust.