Brent Leggs

Brent Leggs Executive Director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund & Strategic Advisor to the CEO, National Trust for Historic Preservation Leader in the U.S.

preservation movement, working to reconstruct national identity. Brent Leggs is the Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund - the largest preservation campaign dedicated to the protection of African American historic sites across the U.S. and the Caribbean. As a senior executive at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Leggs established the $91 million, mul

ti-year fundraising and preservation campaign to preserve 240+ African American historic places. Described as the man who “spends time thinking in centuries” by the New Yorker, Leggs work is rooted in telling the nation’s full history - mitigating the erasure of African American cultural heritage and reconstructing national identity. He has activated an unparalleled movement of entrepreneurs, artists, social justice activists and civic leaders to advocate on behalf of African American historic places. A Harvard University Loeb Fellow and author of the seminal publication, Preserving African American Historic Places, Leggs is the 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award. He has taught at Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Boston Architectural College, and currently serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Maryland’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation.

I’m excited to share a preservation update about the Langston Hughes House in Harlem!The African American Cultural Herit...
06/16/2026

I’m excited to share a preservation update about the Langston Hughes House in Harlem!

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has had the honor of supporting the home’s exterior restoration this year, thanks to support from the Mellon Foundation, including work to save the building’s brownstone facade, front steps, and iron railings.

Originally constructed in 1869, the Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes lived in the home from 1947 until his death in 1967. Today, it is stewarded by Dr. Beverly Prince and her husband Les Rolfe. With their support and through our partners AYON Studio Architecture and Preservation, P.C., and Excellent General Contracting Corp, we are ensuring this iconic piece of American history will continue to stand and carry on Hughes’ artistic legacy for a century to come.

June is African American Music Appreciation Month, a fitting moment to reflect on the spaces that gave rise to some of t...
06/15/2026

June is African American Music Appreciation Month, a fitting moment to reflect on the spaces that gave rise to some of the most influential music in American history, and on the work still needed to preserve them.

Contributing to the preservation of these places, alongside the communities and institutions that steward them, has been one of the proudest honors of my career.

More than just historic sites, from Harlem's Apollo Theater to Nina Simone's Childhood Home in Tryon, North Carolina, these places are part of the infrastructure of American culture. Preserving them ensures that future generations can trace the roots of the music that continues to shape our national identity.

Learn more about the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund's work to save sites connected to Black music history and celebrate African American Music Appreciation Month with a curated playlist (see comments).

Today, I'm proud to spotlight the Detroit Association of Women's Clubs, one of the sites on the National Trust for Histo...
06/11/2026

Today, I'm proud to spotlight the Detroit Association of Women's Clubs, one of the sites on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2026.

Founded in 1921 at the height of the women's suffrage movement, the DAWC made it their mission to fight for their own version of equality, one that included both gender and racial parity. In 1941, Civil Rights leader Dr. Rosa Slade-Gragg took tremendous personal and financial risk to secure the headquarters building for the organization, ensuring Black women in Detroit would have a permanent home for community organizing. She would go on to advise Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson.

As we approach America's 250th anniversary, this year's America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list asks us to reflect honestly on the promise that all people are created equal, and to honor the women who spent their lives working to make those words real. The Detroit Association of Women's Clubs is one of those places.

Follow the National Trust for Historic Preservation and visit the website to learn more

06/09/2026

Here’s a short clip about the moment that set me on a lifelong path in preservation and changed everything for me.

After more than 20 years of work, I’m grateful to my team for encouraging me to finally share the stories, lessons, and insights behind the work.

If you care about history, place, and the stories that shape our future, follow along. More reflections and behind-the-scenes moments coming soon.

06/09/2026

Harlem’s 125th Street is one of the most historically significant corridors in America, and the Blumstein Building at 230 West 125th is a landmark that reflects some of its most defining moments.

Completed in 1923 and designed in a rare Art Nouveau and Art Deco style, Blumstein’s Department Store was Harlem’s largest retailer. Yet despite drawing the majority of its business from the surrounding Black community, the store refused to hire Black employees in professional roles. In 1934, that changed — after an eight-week boycott organized by the Citizens’ League for Fair Play and amplified by a then-emerging Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Blumstein’s was compelled to integrate its staff. The victory rippled outward, galvanizing the “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” movement and setting a precedent for employment equity advocacy across the city.

I’m proud to conclude our Harlem Markers series, documenting the places on these streets that hold the full and powerful story of Black life in America. These stories matter and deserve to be honored.

Make sure you give a follow.

Today, I'm proud to spotlight the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, one of America's 11 Most Endangered Hist...
06/04/2026

Today, I'm proud to spotlight the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2026.

On June 28, 1969, members of New York City's LGBTQ+ community resisted a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, triggering several nights of demonstrations that would directly inspire the first Pride marches and ignite a broader movement for LGBTQ+ equality. In 2016, the site was designated as the only unit of the National Park Service specifically dedicated to LGBTQ+ history.

Today, the monument is endangered by federal actions threatening its historical interpretation — including the removal of materials recognizing the transgender individuals central to the Uprising. The full story of Stonewall must be preserved and told in full.

As we approach America's 250th anniversary, this year's 11 Most list asks us to reckon honestly with the promise that all people are created equal and to honor the people who risked everything to make those words real. Stonewall is one of those places.

Follow the National Trust for Historic Preservation and visit the website to learn more about America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places (link in the comments below).

As the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund celebrates African American Music Appreciation Month, it’s worth r...
06/03/2026

As the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund celebrates African American Music Appreciation Month, it’s worth reflecting on how preservation helps sustain the legacies of artists whose influence extends far beyond music.

Nina Simone’s artistry reshaped American culture and her impact continues to resonate around the world. This thoughtful feature on Tumbao Experience explores a new interpretation of “Love Me or Leave Me,” bringing Simone’s original vocals into dialogue with Afro-Cuban musical traditions and featuring contributions from her brother, Dr. Samuel Waymon.

The Action Fund believes that preserving places connected to Black history is essential to preserving the stories that define our nation. That’s why we were proud to lead the effort to restore Nina Simone’s childhood home in Tryon, North Carolina, an irreplaceable landmark of American cultural history.

Check the links in the comments below to watch the music video and join us as we celebrate the enduring contributions of African American musicians and the importance of protecting the places that shaped them.

This Pride Month, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is celebrating by highlighting six sites that honor...
06/01/2026

This Pride Month, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is celebrating by highlighting six sites that honor Black LGBTQ+ history, including the Rev. Pauli Murray House, now the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice.

Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1910, but spent their childhood in Durham, North Carolina. Murray was a lawyer, civil rights activist, author, legal scholar, poet, and ordained Episcopal priest who was gender-fluid throughout their life. Among their many accomplishments, Murray's 1951 book, “States’ Laws on Race and Color," was described by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as the “Bible” for civil rights litigators.

Q***r Black Americans have long been at the forefront of social change and equality in the United States. The Action Fund is honored to support several sites dedicated to LGBTQ+ communities and celebrate their stories.

Click the link in the comments below to learn more.

The fight for women’s rights in America started in Seneca Falls, New York.In 1848, nearly 300 people gathered at the Wes...
05/28/2026

The fight for women’s rights in America started in Seneca Falls, New York.

In 1848, nearly 300 people gathered at the Wesleyan Chapel for the first women’s rights convention in the United States, where the Declaration of Sentiments boldly declared that “all men and women are created equal.”

Today, the Women’s Rights National Historical Park is one of the sites featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list.

Nationally significant places are facing serious preservation and funding challenges so we're brining awareness to ensure they can prosper for generations to come.

As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, places like this remind us that progress has always depended on people willing to challenge the country to live up to its ideals.

That’s why preserving these stories — and the places where they happened — matters so deeply.

Follow the National Trust for Historic Preservation and visit the website to learn more about America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.


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