FRANKLIN STREET SCHOOL – CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY

Built in 1927 as a segregated elementary school for Cape May’s Black Children until 1948 when the State of New Jersey outlawed segregation. After nearly being demolished by an Urban Renewal project in late 1960s, local groups merged to turn it into a community arts center.

A three million dollar rehabilitation project funded by a capital grant from the state of New Jersey, NJ Historic Trust, Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund and several other organizations is currently underway to prepare the building to house programs such as art classes, workshops, lectures, and an open space for community groups.

HISTORIC ABERDEEN GARDENS – HAMPTON, VIRGINIA

The first black community development in the United States and only New Deal resettlement community designed and built by and for African Americans in the 1930’s. President Roosevelt’s goal was to develop at least ten percent of these resettlements for African Americans who were living in poverty before the depression area. It currently consists of 158 single family homes still existing today.

ANACOSTIA HISTORIC DISTRICT – WASHINGTON DC

This historical district is about 20 squares roughly bounded by Martin Luther King Ave. on the west, Good Hope Rd. on the north, Fendall Str. and the rear of the Frederick Douglass home on the east, and Bangor St. and Morris Rd on the south. It got its name from its early history as a settlement of Anacostan Indians on the banks of the Anacostia River.

Union town is the core of this district and was incorporated in 1854 to be available to Washington’s working class, most of whom worked at the Navy Yard. The subdivision carried a restrictive covenant prohibiting sales to any one of African descent but by 1880 about 15 percent of the residents were African American and about 99 percent today.

JOHN MERCER LANGSTON HIGHWAY MARKER - VIRGINIA

John Mercer Langston was the first African American Congressman from Virginia, founder of Howard University Law School, first president of Virginia State University and minister resident and general consul to Haiti and charge d’affairs of Santo Domingo.

Until 1995 when the Virginia State Review Board approved the proposal for a Historic State Highway Marker for his birthplace in Louisa County, the Commonwealth of Virginia had not officially recognized him.