Pictured Above: Alfred White Jr. holds a 1970s portrait of his father with Carolyn and Phyllis in the background at the Irene Hall Resource Center. Photos courtesy of the South Dakota African American History Museum.
The university announced that Dr. Will Wright, assistant professor of history, has secured $61,000 from the African American Civil Rights History Grants Program — administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. The funding will help create Augustana student internships in archival work, historic preservation and public history.
Two years ago, Wright worked jointly with Director of the South Dakota African American History Museum Zach Van Harris Jr. on a context report for the City of Sioux Falls’ Board of Historic Preservation.
“Our goal was to identify and document existing structures, like homes, businesses and churches that were significant to African American history and culture with the hope that we could nominate some of them to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” Wright said.
Under the direction of Wright and Van Harris, the funds will be used to support Augustana students who will prepare the documentation in order to nominate historic properties. The National Register applications will then be evaluated by the State Historic Preservation Office in Pierre, and if eligible, approved by the current property owners. Examples of those potential places to nominate include the Booker T. Washington Service Center (702 E. 6th St.), which served as transitional housing for African American newcomers from 1926-57, as well as the Coakley family home (1921 S. Summit Ave.), where Maurice Coakley organized the Committee on Human Rights in 1964 to lobby the South Dakota State Legislature to ratify the 24th Amendment, which bans poll taxes in federal elections.
“Of the thousands of properties on the National Register in South Dakota, only six are directly associated with the Black experience,” Van Harris shared, such as the Allen Chapel — an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Yankton, South Dakota. “This collaboration goes a long way in preserving the contributions of African Americans across our great state.”
The context study revealed that some important places in Sioux Falls are already gone, such as St. John’s Baptist Church on the 300 block of N. Minnesota Ave. — currently the site of Van Eps Park.
Alfred White Sr. The funding will support a minimum of six student summer internship positions over the next two years. Augustana students Erica Carmody ‘26, Mustafa Mumtaz ‘28 and Kylie Roemen ‘28 are currently processing the photographic collection of Alfred White Sr., which was donated to the Siouxland Heritage Museums by his children Al, Phyllis and Augustana alumna Carolyn ‘70. Born in Natchez, Mississippi, White was a traveling shoe repairman and decided to relocate to Sioux Falls in 1945. White documented Sioux Falls and the growth of the African American community with his camera for the next half century. (Pictured Right: Alfred White Sr. standing with camera, attends a meeting at St. John’s Baptist Church with civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his 1961 visit to Sioux Falls.)
Along with preparing students for careers in social studies teaching or practicing law, the Augustana History Department trains undergraduates to enter the promising field of public history as archivists, museum curators, historic preservationists and site interpreters.
“This grant is a testament to the hands-on learning that history majors do in service with community partners,” Wright added.
To learn more about the history major at Augustana, visit augie.edu/history.