By Don Rhodes II | The Birmingham Times
Any conversation about preserving the historic Prince Hall Masonic Temple in downtown Birmingham would not be complete without Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Not only is Leggs known worldwide for his work saving important landmarks in African American history like the estate of Madam C. J. Walker in New York and Nina Simone’s birthplace in North Carolina, but he’s also played a key role in creating the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, which President Barack Obama designated in January 2017.
For Leggs, whose organizations have raised $150 million to support over 400 projects nationwide, the Masonic Temple is personal. His connection to Birmingham began a decade ago, when he helped lead the national effort to preserve the A.G. Gaston Motel, restored on June 30, 2022, which former President Barack Obama ultimately designated a National Monument in 2017.
“It was clear that Birmingham’s Civil Rights legacy was unrecognized. That felt like an injustice we could rectify through preservation,” said Leggs, who is also Senior Vice President, National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Reflecting on the A.G. Gaston campaign, Leggs called it a turning point: “What was so powerful was the way the local Black community organized around the motel. They showed their exceptional stewardship capacity.”
Asked what he loves most about Birmingham, Leggs said, “The kindness of the people. I’m from Paducah, Kentucky, and I know Southern warmth when I feel it. Birmingham has always welcomed me with open arms. That’s what makes this place so special.”
The Masonic Temple, previously home to doctors, dentists, business offices, and Masonic leaders, is central to the Fourth Avenue Business District, once known as Birmingham’s Black Wall Street.
Now, Leggs and his team are back in Birmingham to help revive the Prince Hall Masonic Temple, an architectural and cultural gem designed by Robert R. Taylor, the first licensed Black architect in America.
“There’s a sadness when I see this building. It’s like a body suffering from disease. It’s been neglected for far too long,” Leggs said during a seminar in Birmingham last month. “But this temple deserves to be treated with the same reverence as Monticello or the National Cathedral.”
A former Harvard University Loeb Fellow and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, which is considered the “seminal publication on preserving African American historic sites” by the Smithsonian Institution, Leggs is a national leader in the U.S. preservation movement and the 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award. His passion for elevating the significance of Black culture in American history is visible through his work, which elevates the remarkable stories and places that evoke centuries of Black activism, achievement, and community.
Over the past decade, he has developed the Northeast African American Historic Places Outreach Program, and its theme, the Business of Preservation, to build a regional movement of preservation leaders saving important landmarks in African American history.
He has taught at Harvard, Boston Architectural College, and the University of Maryland. He was a senior advisor and adjunct associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS) and held an adjunct professorship at Columbia University’s graduate program in Historic Preservation.
