Landslide 2024: Demonstration Grounds Thematic Report and Digital Exhibition Focuses on Significant Protests and Protest Sites Throughout the Nation’s History
Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553 | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org
The Cultural Landscape Foundation breaks with tradition in the twentieth annual Landslide report – focuses on stories of protest that could be forgotten – includes newly commissioned photography
Washington, D.C. (December 3, 2024) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-profit, today published Landslide 2024: Demonstration Grounds, a report and digital exhibition about thirteen sites of significant protests in American history where the protests and acts of civil disobedience are at risk of fading from public memory, or worse, being forgotten. For the past twenty years, TCLF’s annual thematic report and digital exhibition has focused on threatened landscapes and landscape features. In a break with tradition, this year’s Landslide focuses on events at thirteen sites across the country and the extent to which online, on-site, and other forms of interpretation keep the stories of those events alive, including events connected with Civil Rights, Native American rights, gay rights, Chicano rights, disability rights, urban renewal, anti-Vietnam War activism, sovereignty, self-determination, and fair representation. Each site entry includes newly commissioned photography and recommendations for how to make the stories more visible.
Protests, civil disobedience, and dissent are not only a defining part of our shared history since the Colonial era, but they also continue to the present day on campuses, at political conventions, and elsewhere. Indeed, the rights to freedom of speech and peaceable assembly are guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Some historic marches, sit-ins, and other actions such as the March on Washington in 1963 and the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 are enshrined in our collective narrative, while others have faded from memory. Though the cultural landscapes that served as a stage for these events still exist, the events that took place may not be well-recognized and interpreted.
In past Landslide designations TCLF has placed an emphasis on three guiding principles and calls to action: “make visible, instill value, and engage.” The first of those three – make visible – is at the core of Landslide 2024: Demonstration Grounds and the report’s themes, which address the need for: on-site interpretation, including the identification of “witness trees” and similar landscape features; online interpretation; historic designation (e.g., National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Landmarks), or the expansion of the periods of significance of existing designations; and stewards’ mission and vision statements that too often devalue the protest events by overlooking or ignoring their presence as part of the landscape’s significant legacy.
“These demonstration sites possess a unique power of place because they serve as reminders that they were the stages for those events where it happened,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s President & CEO. “Each of the thirteen sites in this Landslide report is embedded with environmental and cultural characteristics that provide visual and sensory connections to the past, which heighten our individual and collective experiences and serve as critical reminders that peaceful acts of public protest can alter the course of history.”
“[T]he quality and importance of any preservation project is determined not by the integrity of the site, but by the quality of what is made of the site through interpretation of its history. That is the added value that can turn even a precious few evocative fragments, transformed by intelligence and imagination, into significant history; without it, even historic sites of exceptional integrity will remain sterile.” – Catherine Howett, “Integrity as a Value in Cultural Landscape Preservation,” 2000.
The Landslide 2024: Demonstration Grounds sites:
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA – This small 22.5-acre island in San Francisco Bay, site of the first lighthouse on the West Coast (1854), was once a fort, a military prison, and, until 1963, a federal penitentiary. A nineteen-month-long occupation by up to 400 Native Americans beginning on November 20, 1969, galvanized the “Red Power” tribal and treaty rights movement. This National Park Service site, overseen by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, retains evidence of the occupation and there is very good on-site and online interpretation.
How to increase visibility: Support the work of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, including its efforts is to interview participants in the occupation as part of an oral history project.
Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL – Civil disobedience associated with the Civil Rights movement included “wade-ins” by African Americans at whites-only beaches. A 1945 “wade-in” led to the creation of an African American beach south of Miami. Another in 1959 brought about desegregation of Miami’s beaches. There are no interpretive markers at the sites of these two “wade-in” to tell visitors about their historic significance; by contrast the African American beach created following the 1945 “wade-in” is well interpreted.
How to increase visibility: Support the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Trust; call for Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces add interpretive markers to the sites of the 1945 and 1959 “wade-ins”; advocate for the Miami-Dade website to include the “wade-in” history; add the “wade-in” sites to the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Network; and support the Bridge Initiative’s efforts to create a feasibility study to have the U.S. Congress declare the region a National Heritage Area.
Druid Hills, Atlanta, GA – The last residential community designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., and the only subdivision in which all three Olmsteds were involved, Druid Hills’ spinal column is the curvilinear Ponce de Leon Avenue and its necklace of six parks. In the 1980s the expansion of Ponce de Leon into an expressway and a connection to the proposed parkway for the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum would have significantly altered three of the linear parks and forever decimated the Picturesque character of the neighborhood. Residents protested and finally won a consent decree that preserved and protected the neighborhood in 1991.
How to increase visibility: Contact the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance to recommend increasing the visibility of the protests through commemorative events, onsite and online interpretation; updating the National Register of Historic Places nomination to expand the period of significance to include the protests; and applying for the Druid Hills Historic District to be listed as a National Historic Landmark Contact the Druid Hills Civic Association about updating their website to reference the protests and the group’s involvement.
Fisk University, Nashville, TN – This prominent HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), was designed, in part, by landscape architects Olmsted Brothers and David Williston (the first professionally trained African American landscape architect in the U.S.) On June 21, 1924, W.E.B. Du Bois, an alumnus and prominent civil rights activist, delivered an address challenging university president Fayette McKenzie’s autocratic administrative practices. That fall students protested and boycotted classes to force McKenzie out; he finally resigned in April 1925. Fisk has no on-site or online interpretation of this important period.
How to increase visibility: Contact Fisk officials about hosting public engagement events, and creating on-site and online interpretation in 2025 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the expulsion of the students; establish a permanent commemorative feature on campus to honor the protesters and the students who were expelled (such a memorial could take the form of a “roll of honor,” as expressed by Du Bois in 1924, and might be sited on the quadrangle in view of the Du Bois sculpture), advocate for the protests to be conveyed during in-person, student led tours currently offered to prospective students, and recommend submitting an update to the 1978 National Register of Historic Places listing of the Fisk University Historic District to include the protests in the statement of significance.
Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. – Founded in 1864 as the National Deaf-Mute College, Olmsted, Vaux & Co. organized the campus plan around a meandering circulation network designed to provide choreographed passages of scenery. In 1988, when the board of trustees announced they would appoint a hearing university president over several deaf candidates, students organized the “Deaf President Now” protest to shut down the campus as they pressured the administration to meet their demands. After extensive media coverage of the rallies, class boycotts, and impromptu marches to the U.S. Capitol, the board acquiesced to the students’ demands eight days later, naming Dr. Irving King Jordan as university president.
How to increase visibility: Contact Gallaudet officials to recommend that the university document historic trees that witnessed the protest to be added the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) database at the National Park Service; advocate for the addition of an on-site, outdoor interpretive markers; and suggest updating the National Register of Historic Places nomination to expand the period of significance to include the protest events.
Grant Park, Chicago, IL – On August 28, 1968, during the Democratic National Convention, anti-Vietnam War protestors gathered in the park shouting from bullhorns at the base of the 30-foot-tall General John Alexander Logan Monument. The ensuing clash with Chicago police was televised nationwide and the site is now remembered as ground zero for anti-war discord.
How to increase visibility: Contact the Chicago Park District to recommend increasing the visibility of the 1968 protest through on-site and online interpretation; and updating the National Register of Historic Places nomination to expand the period of significance to include the protests.
Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA – Before the June 1969 Stonewall uprising for gay rights in New York City, and before annual pride marches in cities across the country, there was “Annual Reminder Day” in Philadelphia. On July 4th, 1965, the first of what was to become five annual demonstrations for gay and lesbian rights occurred in front of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were created. They were called “Annual Reminder Day" demonstrations, to "remind the American public that homosexuals did not enjoy many of the rights that were protected in the Constitution." The site was transferred to the National Park Service in 1974 and incorporated into Independence National Historical Park (INHP) in 1997. There is on-site interpretation, but the INHP website does not include mention of the Reminder Days link to their webpage about Philadelphia LGBTQ history, which does cover the topic.
How to increase visibility: Contact the National Park Service to advocate for updating the National Register of Historic Places nomination to expand the period of significance; recommend that Independence National Historical Park document historic trees that witnessed the Annual Reminder pickets be added to the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) database at the National Park Service; and incorporate information included on the National Park Service’s Philadelphia LGBTQ Heritage Initiative website on the INHP website.
Mississippi Levee Site, St. John the Baptist Parish, LA – Floods, hurricanes and globally rising waters may be the most common associations with Louisiana’s levees, but the 28.5-mile stretch of fortified Mississippi River banks in St. John the Baptist Parish have also born witness to centuries of history and three key movements of protest, including one of the largest slave revolts in America, adjacent to Woodland Plantation, a key Civil Rights student walk-out, and a 1970s push for interracial peace, love and community, all staged on a landscape facing constant threat.
How to increase visibility: Support The Descendants Project’s efforts to introduce on-site interpretive markers and host exhibitions at the Woodland Plantation detailing the “1811 Freedom Fight of the Enslaved”; to update the National Register of Historic Places nomination to include the rebellion in the statement of significance; and document historic trees located on the property that witnessed the development of the plantation, possibly shading its inhabitants. Contact the Louisiana Historical Marker Program to advocate for the installation of interpretive markers at the site of the former Second Ward High School, and Papa Dukie encampment.
National Chicano Moratorium March, Los Angeles, CA – The eight-acre, neighborhood Ruben Salazar Park, located in East Los Angles, served as the terminus of the National Chicano Moratorium March held on August 29, 1970. The demonstration included 20,000 to 30,000 participants and was intended to raise concerns about the high casualty rate of Latino soldiers in Vietnam, police violence, poor working conditions, and other issues. The peaceful demonstration devolved into chaos as police shot tear gas into the crowd. At the end of the day, dozens of people were injured and three were killed including Mexican American journalist Ruben Salazar, Angel (José) Diaz, and Lyn Ward. In 1970 the park was renamed to commemorate Salazar.
How to increase visibility: Support the Los Angeles Conservancy’s efforts to: document and interpret about the National Chicano Moratorium March, including efforts to strengthen and enrich interpretation of significant sites along the historic 3.7-mile route of the march; and for people to share personal experiences and to become involved in ongoing efforts to tell stories about Chicano heritage in Los Angeles.
Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA – In 1964 a group of citizens met in Lowell’s Café in Pike Place Market; they eventually formed Friends of the Market, an advocacy group that not only succeeded in preventing the demolition of the market, which had been operating since 1907, but in creating what is now a culturally significant nine-acre historic district that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The group was led by architect Victor Steinbrueck, and their efforts, which began two years before the creation of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, would also attract the support of landscape architects Laurie Olin and Richard Haag. It was an early and powerful example of effective citizen-led advocacy that provides inspiration, and a road map, for future advocates.
How to increase visibility: Support Friends of the Market.
Tent City, Boston, MA – The three-acre site in Boston’s South End was the center of a major four-day protest in April 1968 against the urban renewal plans of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which had forcibly displaced residents and demolished 68 homes, a community center, and two parks in the area. Civil rights leader Melvin H. “Mel” King and other activists established a “tent city” that was briefly home to more than 400 protesters. Twenty years after the protest in 1988, an alliance of non-profit developers, the Tent City Corporation, opened the 269-unit mixed-income housing development called Tent City, named for the historic demonstration.
How to increase visibility: Contact the Boston Arts Commission through its online form to recommend the addition of a sculpture or streetscape mural in commemoration of the 1968 protest. Contact the South End Historical Society, to recommend expanding the period of significance of the South End Historic District National Register of Historic Places designation beyond 1900 to include significant twentieth-century historic events (including the 1968 demonstration).
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the publication of Robert Caro’s landmark opus The Power Broker, two New York City sites associated with Park Commissioner Robert Moses are included.
Washington Square Park, New York, N.Y. - This ten-acre public space located in the heart of Greenwich Village, New York City, has hosted numerous notable protests since it was designated a public park in 1827. Its first public use was as a military parade ground, and in 1911, a procession to commemorate the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (which had occurred just one block east of Washington Square Park) proceeded through the landscape, followed by a rally for better working conditions attended by 20,000 workers the following year. A proposed redesign of the park by Robert Moses in 1935 would have routed a major roadway through its center, forever altering the relationship between the public space and its value as a common green. Over 23 years, community members defeated every proposal Moses made in a grassroots movement that inspired historic preservation efforts throughout the city.
How to increase visibility: Support the work of Village Preservation, the non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the architectural heritage and cultural history of Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo. Support the Washington Square Park Conservancy to “help keep Washington Square Park clean, safe and beautiful.” Contact the N.Y.C. Department of Parks and Recreation to recommend the installation of additional interpretive markers at Washington Square Park and expanded interpretation online.
West 67th Street Playgrounds, New York, N.Y. – The 1956 Battle of Central Park pitted Park Commissioner Robert Moses against more than 50 mothers and their children on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. At issue was a half-acre wooded site on the edge of Central Park, next to the West 67th Street Playground, which Moses wanted to redevelop to include an 80-car parking lot for the Tavern on the Green restaurant. Skirting sit-downs and other protests, Moses surreptitiously began having trees felled; the ensuing furor led to State Supreme Court Justice Samuel Hofstadter issuing a temporary injunction. Following further legal action, including two lawsuits, Moses abandoned the plan. Instead, the West 67th Street Playground designed by Richard Dattner became the first Adventure Playground in 1967 and was followed by the adjacent space, now called the Tarr-Coyne Tots Playground, built on the site of the 1956 protest, in 1968.
April 2026 will mark the 70th anniversary of mothers squaring off with construction crews during “the Battle of Central Park.” Commemorative events could serve as a catalyst for a targeted effort to capture the oral histories of those who organized, participated in, chronicled or witnessed the protests.
How to increase visibility: Contact Landmark West! to recommend that the organization produce oral histories with those associated with the Battle of Central Park and donate to the organization to support the oral history efforts. Support the work of the Central Park Conservancy to incorporate more of Central Park’s rich cultural and social history, including the Battle of Central Park and the West 67th Street Playgrounds, into the online content and public programs offered by the Conservancy.
About Landslide
As an education and advocacy organization, TCLF’s makes visible, instills value, and engages the public in these myriad cultural landscapes that collectively convey who we are, where we've come from, and where we are going as a nation. One of TCLF's principal education and advocacy initiative is Landslide and the annual thematic Landslide reports about cultural landscapes that are threatened and at-risk. The goal is to draw immediate and lasting attention to threatened sites by making them more visible, revealing their value, and promoting public engagement in the form of advocacy and stewardship.
The following photographers generously donated their time and talent to chronicle the Landslide 2024 sites: Marion Brenner, Sahar Coston-Hardy, Barrett Doherty, Rodrigo Gaya, Millicent Harvey, Robbie Jones, Alan Karchmer, Jamie Ratchford, Jeannie Frey Rhodes, Bob Semsch, Jean Sherrard, Scott Shigley, and Michael Wells.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 to connect people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
EDITORS: Hi-res images can be downloaded here – caption and credit information are in each photo label.
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