Over the years, our luncheons have attracted upwards of 300 community leaders who impact our region. This year we invite you to join us and Brent Leggs – executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund – at Cory United Methodist Church. Situated in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, Cory has become synonymous with the civil rights struggle and leading icons, no less than The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, who delivered his famous The Ballot or the Bullet speech at the church. During King’s visits, the streets overflowed with people in anticipation of his message and brilliant oratory. Cory is among the sites featured on Cleveland’s Civil Rights Trail and will display the Trail’s first Ohio Historical Marker.

Brent Leggs is the executive director of the $25 million African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Senior Advisor and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Preservation of Civil Rights Sites. Brent authored Preserving African American Historic Places and led efforts to establish the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. From his work to protect Madam C. J. Walker’s Villa Lewaro in New York,  Nina Simone’s Childhood Home in North Carolina, and other national places important in American history, he promotes the equitable interpretation and restoration of our nation’s historic landmarks as a tool for racial equity and economic justice. A Harvard University Loeb Fellow, Brent is a national leader in the U.S. preservation movement and the 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award.

You must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to participate

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