cemetery – ANDREA ROBERTS

Out(sider) Preservation Initiative-Mellon

Jul 15, 2026Andrea RobertsUncategorizedafrican american, black, Black Settlements, Black Towns, California, Canada, cemetery, environmental justice, freedom, Gulf Coast, heritage, historic preservation, homecoming, Louisiana, migration, National, North Carolina, placekeeping, placemaking, planning, Southern, Texas, Virginia

2023- Present, Principal Investigator (PI), Outsider Preservation Initiative, Presidential Initiative of the Andrew Mellon Foundation. A four-year program investing in commemorative practices and storytelling projects. I manage research and program staff to create a web portal, community of practice, host symposia, develop new pedagogy, and make grants to descendant-led place preservation projects. Commemorating Black place preservation and persistence…

Dead Assets: Endangered Cemeteries, Sacred Spaces of African America

By Andrea Roberts* I spoke yesterday with Jeremy Nelloms, descendant of Nancy Bradshaw. Nancy Bradshaw was a former slave who attained an impressive 300 acres of land after emancipation located in today’s northeast Houston, Texas. The land is located a few blocks off I-10 East. Her family still owns the land, and the historic African…