This week's episode features a fun conversation with John William Templeton from the Expo floor at the 2023 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Convention. John shares his gift of using research to tell fuller stories of historical events. He also shares ways in which his work is helping the next generation learn how to use the Secretary of the Interior's Standards to do better research and find the truth.

Tangible Highlight: Queen Califia mural in the California State Capitol

Links:

• California African American Freedom Trail
• Black Money Website
• California Black History Website
• John William Templeton books
• African Burial Ground in New York
• Tangible Remnants on Instagram
• Tangible Remnants Website
• LinkedTr.ee for resources
• Gabl Media Network
• Sarah Gilberg's Music

Bio: John William Templeton

 Founder, Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month

For 50 years, John William Templeton has been a trusted authority on African-American history as the first journalist to write about Black History Month in 1976 and author of 60 reference books. That includes his trilogy on the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. The first African-American editor of a business newspaper, he is founder of the Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month and creator of Our10Plan: the African-American economic strategy. Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corp., which he chairs, broke ground in late July on a 300 unit affordable housing mixed use development in Brownsville, the densest Black neighborhood in the nation.

**Some of the links above maybe Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.** 

Mentioned in this episode:

Emerging

Unstruct

Design Vault

Gabl Continuing Education Podcasts

All Access

ArchIT

Ep - 39 John Templeton

Welcome the tangible remnants. I'm Nikita Reid. And this is my show, where I explore the interconnectedness of architecture, preservation, sustainability, race, and gender. I'm excited that you're here. So let's get into it.

And thanks to some serendipitous connections, I was able to meet John at the NOMA reception, and he agreed to join me on the podcast. There are lots of links in the show notes to various resources that we discussed, but I'm just so grateful that it all worked out.[00:01:00]

And so before we jump into the episode, I wanted to share a conference tidbit about Expo passes that I learned at the convention.

So John was already part of the convention because he was leading a few tours, but he wasn't registered for the main lectures or the expo. And knowing that I needed to get him onto the expo floor to be able to record the episode,

I contacted one of my friends who works for the AIA to find out how we could get John on the expo floor without having to pay hundreds of dollars, and that's where I learned about the Expo Pass, and I wanted to share the details with you. At the AIA convention, and likely other industry conventions, there are typically free one day or at least reduced price expo passes, where you can register to walk the expo floor.

C., also at NOMA in Portland, and doing a quick layover in Seattle for the APT conference and a ZNCC happy hour. I'd love to connect with you if you'll be at any of these conferences or events, so please do say hello if you see me there. . Okay. So back to this week's episode, you'll hear more about how I got connected with John in the [00:03:00] episode.

He was the first African American editor of a business newspaper. He's the founder of the Journal of Black Innovation, National Black Business Month, and creator of Our 10 Plan, the African American economic strategy.

All right. That's all the overview I have for you for this week. So without further ado, please enjoy this conversation between me and John William Templeton from the expo floor of the 2023 AIA convention.

Nakita Reed: All right, so I am podcasting from the RCAP booth on the expo floor of architecture, I know, of the American Institute of Architects, a 23 conference. Big shout out and thank you to Gable Media for making this happen and for RCAP for hosting us here. It's been a great conference so far and it's been fun podcasting.

And the conference so far has been amazing, somewhat overwhelming. The expo floor is massive this year. And then, the sessions are great. The keynotes have been awesome. So far, one of my favorite takeaways from the conference has been, actually, one of the sessions I went to this morning, which was the coat top 10 or just the coat forum, actually.

And so being able to really. Learn more about the ways that architecture and sustainability and justice, and DEI. And all that is interlapping has been interesting and being able to have the conversations with other architects who are in the same space has been soul affirming, actually, and so, I'm excited for all the new connections that I have made this week, one of them being the person who I get to have a great conversation with.

You need to have him on the podcast. You need to have the conversation. And so then we met at the NOMA reception last night and the stars aligned and I'm very grateful that you're here. Thank you. And so, why don't we start with one of the things that I was most intrigued by. so you are a reporter ish.

Let me not even make assumptions. Tell me more about the work that you're doing. and how you would define yourself.

John William Templeton: Look, I try not to. Fair. Because, what I've learned over my professional career is that you, you really don't get to choose. what you have to do on a, on a given day. So, in the course of any given day, I might be an investment banker.

And I was assigned to look at the history of police brutality after the Rodney King beating. Okay. And while I was there, I found out that the San Fernando Valley was originally owned by black millionaires. Oh. Who had been the last two Mexican governors of South California. So, that was pretty stunning to me.

Okay. From 1500 to 1900. So, then I did Volume 2 from 1900 to 1950, and then Volume 3 from 1950 up to about 2000, and then Volume 4 is a lesson plan called, The Black Queen, How African Americans Put California on the Map. Neat. So, in the course of doing the work, we realized that, You can't describe this history to somebody verbally, or even in writing.

Wow. It's been endorsed by the State Historical Resources Commission. And it's the most extensive historical record of any state in the country. Oh my gosh. This is why I'm very glad to meet you. This is amazing. And we will make sure to put links to that in the show notes for listeners who want to learn more.

Yes. My goodness. And so then, and as you've been doing the research and documenting the sites, getting the tours together, what have been some of your favorite finds or things that you've learned about? Well, once again, I don't like

And so every year, people are looking at this mural, you know, for months at a time. And nobody notices that there's this big mural of a black woman behind it. Right. So [00:11:00] the, the, the sociological study has been, well, how is it that people can't see history that's right in front of their faces? Right. And, and so that's why we wound up doing the, the fourth volume.

Because we realize that in order to actually teach African American history, you actually have to unlearn what people think they already know. Absolutely. And so that's why I don't often... Just tell people and stuff because it's like, well, they think they can't even absorb it because it's just completely 180 degrees different from everything they believe.

Yeah, but it's great that you're out here doing advocacy to help people know about it because you don't know what you don't know. So being able to access it, even for someone from, you know, I'm from Maryland. This is my second time in San Francisco. And so I would have no idea about any of this if I hadn't met you.

We also do a seven, seven days. statewide tool. Oh, where we start either start in L. A. Or San Francisco and do a circle around the state because we have sites in all 58 carats. And so that's also also sort of revolutionary because we have very stereotypical views about what black history is. So we don't think about Black folks in the logging camps near Oregon border are as farm workers in the Imperial Valley.

Los Angeles, the original founders of LA. 26 of the 44 were black. Oh, wow. 60% of the original founders of San Diego were black. That's astonishing. Yeah. So, and all this information is readily available. There you go. I just... But, nobody knows it. So, so we've actually been... We're pretty careful stewards of it because we want to make sure that people get the information in a way that allows them to advance and to process it.

So, but in the 1500s, black women. were the icons for wealth and beauty. And so there's a whole genre of literature that's, through the medieval period that traces from, the voyage to Mecca. So one of the hats I wear is that I'm the, the one to do a route or the history advisor to the Songhai people.

are descended from Songhai. Got you. And so, we have a dynasty that is as long as the Windsor, but more importantly, Africans occupied Europe from 17 to 14, nine. Wow. That's like way back. So that's 780 years. Yeah. So if you, if you compare that to the period since Columbus, that's 250 years [00:16:00] long. So, so our perspective, can't just start in the 1600s.

And so that image of black women warriors associated with gold and wealth dominated the world for the next couple hundred years. Wow. And so, so the, the narrative of La Serge de Esplandia, 1510, comes from that real life history. So when you come to California, the dominant architecture is called what? I mean, [00:17:00] it's like Spanish style, typically.

Moorish. Moorish. Oh, actually, that's a good point. Moorish, yes. And so you have all these little cute clues in history. Right. But you don't really understand, you don't understand what's going on. And that's so fascinating, and I love that you're talking about history more expansive, because the way history books teach it, it seems like it's the Egyptians did something, the Incans did something, and then it was the Renaissance.

Right. Right? So then your other population center is [00:18:00] West Africa. Okay. Right? And you have population Center in India, and you have the Ming Dynasty in China. So if you were looking from space and doing a comparison of the relative strength of civilizations, you would probably put all four of those plus the Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Just looking at the size of the buildings and that sort of thing. You would put all those civilizations ahead of Western Europe. Gotcha. And so, so, so, so we never have a, a true global view. Right. Absolutely. Of what was going on all over the world because we've condensed everything into one particular language.

So the first known Africans to land in what's now the United States came to Florida in 1508. Okay. So that's, that's 120 years before... Yeah. James Taylor. Hey. the whole Atlantic coast was named Tierra de Esteban Gomez. You know Esteban Gomez? I do not. Okay, he was the first, you know, sailor from Europe to reach what's now the United States.

Yeah. I'm so grateful for this. So, so last night I was there with, the, architect who was one of the designers for the African Burial Ground. So if you go to the African Burial Ground in New York City. Right. The first thing it shows you, the first panel, is how Esteban Gomez was the first. to reach the mouth of the Hudson Bay.

The information is where it's supposed to be. It's just, it's not people don't, yeah, don't get it. Not common knowledge and not understood. And that's one of the things that I love about doing these podcasts, doing these conversations is being, being able to help a lot of that history be more visible like you're doing because even, so when I started the podcast, it was because I was hearing some people thinking that, well, black people and women of color or black people, women and people of color just haven't contributed really good in the field of architecture, but it's like, hold on.

We have so many existing buildings that prove that. Otherwise, we've always been here. the myth of white supremacy makes it seem like only straight white men have done anything of value in the country. And so being able to use architecture, history, preservation as a tool to help help people unlearn and learn new things and how it works is one of the things I'm super excited to be doing.

We were brought here for our skills in building, in metallurgy, and in architecture, in agriculture. So, every urban area east of the Mississippi prior to 1920, the buildings were built largely by black labor force. Most universities, yeah, are a good step. So, so, so, and this was really before the profession of architecture really started after the Civil [00:23:00] War.

Gotcha. So, I didn't know that. Until I actually went back and, you know, I just assumed we'd been in slavery. Right. But when I thought about it, I said, well, you know, Yeah. Both my grandfathers had like 80 acre farms and everything. They didn't, they didn't act like people who had been in slavery. Right. I mean, white people were deferential to them.

So, I didn't even know about it until I was 40 years old. And that's why I call it Grandpa Jack's Secret. So, my brother said, did you know, Grandpa Jack was a bootlegger. I said, Grandpa Jack, the Presbyterian elder. Yeah, that one.

So I know that you are, multi passionate. We're doing a lot of things, for students who are interested in learning more about any of the many hats that you wear. What's just some advice you'd give for students who are looking to learn more about history or things like that? Well, we have a instructional network called REU.

Okay. And we do four hours a day of instructional programming where we use. The Secretary of Interior's Standards to actually present history, and we've been doing it for 30 years. We've never had a complaint. We've never had anybody try to ban us. Because by using the Secretary of Interior's Standards, by using public records, by avoiding interpretation, what we're doing is showing students how to find...

Interesting. Yeah. And so then there's the reunion, I assume it teaches the students how to do that, what the tools are. Yes. And then is that a program mainly for California students or nationwide? Nationwide, and we're actually, moving into the international realm as well this year. Because there are 80 countries that have a black majority.

So it's always needing to learn more on our own, through families, through other means of learning about the history of black students, about people in general. Yeah, the irony of these bans on black history was, well, they weren't teaching it anyway. It's like, what are you banning? Exactly. That watered down.

Oh, we just came here as slaves and that's all. No, that's not it's like, well, we don't need that stuff anyway. Right. Right. And so it's great to know that there are other resources available, and that you're also doing it in a framework of, using the Secretary for the Interior's Standards. Because that's also...

trying to get more black people and people of color into the field of preservation to even know what the Secretary of the Interior's Standards are and how to do the research, how to find more information. Part of what we talk about in our lesson plan is that, it really goes beyond black history.

Mm hmm. So it's like... Right. You know, so, so you don't have to be particularly revolutionary or anything like that. All you gotta do is... Right. Look at the documentation that's there. Yeah. The resources, the records. But that's why the public records are there. And that's how you avoid debate, because it's like, well, Right.

Right. It's like, it's not my interpretation, but here's the documentation of what they said. Yeah, and you can come to your own conclusion about, you know, if, you know, either the United States... Banned slavery in the 13th amendment, all they did. Right. There you go. I mean, what do you believe in that? Right.

That's the constitution. Now you know where to find that information. That's fantastic. Yeah. So then, alright, well as we are wrapping up here from the expo floor of the, American Institute of Architects, A23. John, where can people find you, to learn more information? Well, my site is, blackmoney.com but I'm also the, founder of Journal of Black Innovation, national Black Business Month. So during August, I do doing 31 ways, 31 days, and we have a program every night at seven o'clock this year. We're gonna have African heads of state and cabinet ministers, some of the top African American, financiers.

And for all the listeners, I hope you learned as much as I did because this was mind blowing and I’m so excited that you’re doing what you’re doing. Okay. Thank you so much.