The Architectural Legacy of the California African-American Freedom Trail

Serving the Bay Area for more than a century, theAmerican Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter (AIASF)offers professional development and networking opportunities as well as public forums, tours, lectures, and gallery exhibitions that provide architects and design enthusiasts with many opportunities to explore the local built environment.TheCenter for Architecture + Designenhances public appreciation for architecture and design, both locally and internationally, through exhibitions, lectures, tours, films, and other programs that reveal the richness of the design arts. Founded in 2005, the Center for Architecture + Design is a collaborative environment where design organizations and affiliates share not only space, but ideas.

AIA San Francisco & The Center for Architecture + Design

Historian John William Templeton shows the centrality of the black experience in California.

Thank you for joining us! Questions? Contact auomalley@aiasf.org

PRESENTATION / DISCUSSIONThe Architectural Legacy of the California African-American Freedom TrailFrom George Washington High School to the National Maritime Museum to Bayview, the public art of Sargent Claude Johnson made him the most celebrated artist of the New Negro era. He is not unusual. Along Leidesdorff Street, the beginnings of San Francisco&#x27;s Financial District show the traces of an African-American millionaire who decided to commercialize the San Francisco Bay in the 1830s. Historian John William Templeton shows the centrality of the black experience in California history with a photo display of the ways that black Californians left their imprint on the built environment in San Francisco while describing their impact on the Civil War, Reconstruction, birth of the labor movement and end of Jim Crow and apartheid. He is the curator of the 6,000 site California African-American Freedom Trail and author of Our Roots Run Deep: the Black Experience in California, Vols. 1-4. His tours of California black history has wowed visitors for 25 years.About John William TempletonJohn William Templeton has mapped 6,000 sites of historical, cultural and architectural significance in the California African-American Freedom Trail. He is the leading historian of African-Americans in the Golden State as editor of Our Roots Run Deep: the Black Experience in California, Vols. 1-4, first published in 1991 and author of Come to the Water: Sharing the Rich Black Experience in San Francisco and Cakewalk: unsung creators of jazz music. His primary source work includes the context statements for blacks in San Jose and San Francisco, an oral history of 300 informants in the Western Addition, preserving the personal belongings of Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett; cataloguing two photo collections of 25,000 images and the trilogy on the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments that found the resolutions of ratification for each state between 1865 and 1870. For the Songhoy people of West Africa, from whom 75 percent of today&#x27;s African-Americans are descended, he has served as wanadu aroo or history advisor for 25 years. Before moving to California as editor of the San Jose Business Journal in 1987, he was editor of the first black newspaper to publish a centennial edition, the Richmond AFRO-AMERICAN and president of the Jackson Ward National Historic District Project Area Committee. With civil engineer Frederick E. Jordan Sr., he launched National Black Business Month in 2004 and writes the annual State of Black Business report. His educational network, ReUNION: Education-Arts-Heritage distributes four hours daily for the black children&#x27;s educational channel. A Presbyterian ruling elder for 38 years, he represents the denomination as chair of educational affiars on the board of trustees of Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, AL. He is chair of the board of the Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corp. in New York City. His scholarly presentations have been to the American Historical Association, Pacific Coast Branch; American Educational Research Association, California Council for the Social Studies; California Council for the Promotion of History, Association for the Study of African-American Life and History and American Library Association.About the Architecture + the City Festival (September 11-30)Co-presented by <a href="https://aiasf.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">AIA San Francisco </a>and the <a href="https://www.centersf.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Center for Architecture + Design</a>, the 17th annual Architecture + the City goes virtual and will continue to offer behind-the-scenes programs, walking tours, literature, live presentations and more that provide an excellent opportunity for all communities to experience architecture and design in a myriad of ways throughout the city.Every September, the festival reveals the many facets and layers of San Francisco, and how ­architecture and design play a key role in this ever-changing urban landscape. Millions of people from around the world visit San Francisco — a 49 square-mile city with a population of more than 800,000 comprised of artists, architects, designers, storytellers, students, and more — each with perspectives that contribute to the compelling and evolving narrative that makes this City so unique.For more info visit <a href="https://www.archandcity.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">www.archandcity.org</a> or <a href="https://www.centersf.org/festival2020" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">www.centersf.org/festival2020</a>

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