By Kristin Kitchen
Special To The Carolinian
As a passionate preservationist, Irvin Henderson made the business of saving historic structures, and preserving communities, his life’s work. For those of us fortunate enough to have known him, he was a teacher, mentor, historian and a quiet force to be reckoned with when championing a project he believed in. We felt better when he was on our team. You knew that “things were going to be alright” when he walked into a room. But he spoke, we all knew that the knowledge he was going to share was going to be just what was needed to get the job done.
As the owner of Sojourn Heritage, a Hospitality brand focused on African American History and culture, I knew I could count on Irvin. He was always available to help me save historic structures. We worked to prevent those that were once part of the “Green Book” from being torn down. Additionally, he gave us the tools necessary to start the process for preservation. Not just how to get things on the National list of Historic Places, but what to do once the designation was awarded, and how to use the award to restore the property. With patience and kindness, he always took my phone calls. He met with members of historical boards and individuals across various communities who needed guidance on exactly how to get things done. Even when he would fuss at me about the calls for the “last minute saves” as he called them, when a property was at risk of demolition, I knew that he was going to help me. I knew his passion for the history was always greater than his frustration with my timing. Never once, did he let me, or the others who were on the call, down. With his presence needed on so many city, state and national projects, he still took the calls from individuals to help us do our part.
Irvin was a founding board member of Mainstreet America. I remember one day, during one of their quarterly conferences, I finally had the opportunity to host him at my hotel. Irvin Henderson was coming to the Dunns-Josephine in Miami, a historic site that celebrates the Harlem Renaissance and Miami’s Jim Crow history in Historic Overtown. As his student, I was so delighted to be able to show him the work that he contributed to! With a warm smile and his big hug, he let me know that he was proud of me and for that, I will always be grateful.
As Vice chair of NCRC board, Irvin worked with countless communities on preservation projects. So many people have shared stories of his contributions and the millions of dollars he helped secure to ensure those projects were completed.
One that stands out to me was from Vernice Miller-Travis, co-founder of We ACT for Enviromental Justice:
“In 2012, Irv Henderson and I were part of a team pitching to the city of Raleigh, NC about how to redevelop and revitalize the historic John Chavis Memorial Park, initially created as the ‘Colored park’ serving only Black people in the 1930’s,”
“We were zipping through our presentation when Irv recounted how he had learned how to swim as a child in the pool at the park. But as he got older, he was unable to earn his Boy Scout Eagle Scout Badge because he needed to be able to swim the length of an Olympic-size swimming pool, and the only pool available to him did not meet that criteria. As I looked around the room at City of Raleigh Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources staff, I could see as Irv was recounting his childhood experience with segregation that ran right through that very park, that that was when we won the bid. Today, John Chavis Memorial Park has been completely reimagined, redesigned and revitalized via a $40 million capital investment by the City of Raleigh based upon the revised master plan that we created. It has also been added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is but one in a very long chain of examples of how Irv saw things others didn’t see, imagined what could be, and then went to work to make his vision a reality.”
But, in addition to his public projects, countless others like me share their stories of the guidance he gave them personally to help them save their own projects. Not for credit, not for praise, but because of a desire to help us all be better at saving history for the next generation.
We lost a giant in the preservation world. But his legacy lives on in all of us who he encouraged on a daily basis to keep fighting and keep pushing.
“Irvin, you have planted the seeds and given us the tools to keep your garden growing. We honor you. You are our Ancestor now and we understand the assignment.”
