Protest! Rise Up! Take a Stand! Eight New Free Webinars about Important Protests in American History At Risk of Being Forgotten, Altered, or Erased

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553  | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org

Landslide in Action - Eight free 75-minute webinars examine more than two centuries of historic protests

Washington, D.C. (April 15, 2025) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-profit established in 1998, today announced a series of eight new FREE webinars about important protests in American history at risk of being forgotten, altered, or erased. Each of the eight free 75-minute-long webinars will showcase the protests, issues, and people featured in TCLF’s report and digital exhibition Landslide 2024: Demonstration Grounds. The Landslide In Action webinars, sponsored by Victor Stanley, that will feature dynamic speakers who will reveal amazing stories about the ordinary people who dared to shape history, how the powerless became empowered, and the places where that happened. The events are free but registration is required.

Some of the most debated issues today—anti-war activism, civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights, Native rights, disability rights, and more—have been the subject of historic acts of protests, civil disobedience, and dissent, some dating to the Colonial era. The histories of some of these protests are at risk of erasure, fading from public memory, or worse, being forgotten. And, the threat is accelerating. As the New York Times recently reported, federal “agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid ... in government memos, in official and unofficial agency guidance and in other documents.” Examples include the terms “Native American” and “cultural heritage.” As the Times noted: “That shift is already apparent on hundreds of federal government websites.” And, as reported in the Washington Post, the National Park Service website about the Underground Railroad was rewritten to remove language about the “efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage,” (it has since been rescinded) and a recent executive order directed “the Smithsonian Institution to eliminate ‘divisive narratives.’”

Here are the first two – the events are free but registration is required:

April 17, 2025, 12 Noon – 1:15 PM ET – Prelude to the Modern Preservation Movement. Two significant events at sites on opposite coasts – Washington Square Park in New York City's Greenwich Village and the historic Pike Place Market neighborhood in Seattle, Washington – took place several years before enactment of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. In New York City, ordinary citizens defeated the nearly omnipotent city planner, Roberts Moses, who wanted to put two 38-foot-wide roads through the heart of the park. And a broad coalition prevented the demolition of a Seattle cultural, social, and economic icon that, like Washington Square Park, serves as a powerful example of effective citizen-led advocacy that provides both inspiration, and a road map, for the future. Panelists:

•    Dena Tasse-Winter (Village Preservation)
•    Richard Longstreth (Former George Washington University)
•    Laura Feller (Former National Park Service)
•    Monica Rhodes (Rhodes Preservation Group)

April 23, 2025, 12 Noon – 1:15 PM ET – Independence Mall Equal Rights Protests. A major precursor to the 1969 Stonewall protests, often seen as the genesis of the modern gay rights movement, were the “Annual Reminder Day” marches that took place for five years every July 4th at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall (1965-69). Independence Mall and the Stonewall National Monument are maintained by the National Park Service (NPS); recently, written recognition of Philadelphia's LGBTQ heritage and legacy of LGBTQ activism have been deactivated on NPS’ website and the Stonewall website was altered to remove references to "transgender" and "queer," the TQ in LGBTQ. Webinar participants will address the significance of the 1960s protests and erasure of its history. Panelists:
•    Bob Skiba (Curator of Collections at the John J. Wilcox Jr. LGBT Archives at the William Way Community Center)
•    Max Dickson (OLIN, PrideScapes)
•    Andrew Dolkart (Columbia University)
•    Sahar Coston-Hardy (Landslide 2024 Photographer)

The remaining Landslide In Action webinars have yet to be scheduled; they are:

May 2025 – City Parks as Stages for Public Protests
Citizen activists rallied to save portions of parks in two major cities – Druid Hills, Atlanta, GA, and Central Park, New York, N.Y. – designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., the father of landscape architecture; while Chicago, IL’s Grant Park was the site in 1968 of a momentous anti-Vietnam War protest.

June 2025 – Invisible Histories along the Mississippi River
The 28.5-mile stretch of fortified Mississippi River banks in Louisiana’s St. John the Baptist Parish have 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.

June 2025 – Biscayne Bay Wade-ins 
Civil disobedience associated with the Civil Rights movement included “wade-ins” by African Americans at whites-only beaches Miami, FL-area 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.

Summer 2025 – Alcatraz Island’s Native American Lifeways
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.

Fall 2025 – The Legacy of Two Major Campus Protests
At Fisk University in 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. While in 1988 at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., 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.

Fall 2025 – Elevating and Interpreting Chicano History 
The eight-acre, neighborhood Ruben Salazar Park, located in East Los Angeles, 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 Landslide In Action webinars are sponsored by Victor Stanley. The events are free but registration is required.

About Victor Stanley
Victor Stanley is a leader in quality site furnishings that helps bring your visions to life. From benches and bike racks to smart litter receptacles, which use a Relay Sensor and Service to enable efficient collection routing, Victor Stanley meticulously designs, engineers and manufactures every detail to ensure their site furnishings will withstand the test of time. The company is celebrating over 60 years of helping create a place for people to gather, live life and make timeless moments.

About The Cultural Landscape Architecture 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.

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