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Photo source: National Endowment for the Humanities
Everett Fly honored Architect receives 2014 National Humanities Medal for efforts to preserve African- American history.
By RICHARD MASSEY Correspondent
Fly, 62, is based in San Antonio, Texas, his home- town. One of the largest cities in the nation with history dating back to the 17 th Century, Fly credits the town with fostering his love and respect for his- toric preservation. Though San Antonio is the well- spring, his work in preservation has taken him to obscure and nearly forgotten places all across the country. He recalls a time in 1980 when he was looking through historic maps in the National Archives in Washington D.C. He found records of a black settle- ment in Arlington, Virginia, called Freedman’s Vil- lage, which existed on part of the land now occu- pied by Arlington National Cemetery. “I learned that some of the original black residents of Freedman’s Village are buried in Arlington Na- tional Cemetery, along with prominent American statesmen, war heroes, and presidents,” he says. “I had never seen this black community documented in any American history book. I realized that this kind of history needed to be included in the broad- er accounts in order for the nation’s history to be truly democratic, authentic, and complete.” His research in the field began during his time at Harvard. His experience during graduate school evolved after graduation, and in 1979, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fel- lowship. Since that time, he has identified more than 1,200 African-American districts, neighbor- hoods, settlements, villages, and towns across the United States.
A mother’s love for her son sparked a long career in architecture and preservation of African- American history, and that career was recognized with an honor unlike any other – a 2014 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama. Architect Everett Fly was an inquisitive kid when his mother, Nadine Burnim Fly, recognized his abil- ities. She nurtured his instincts, giving Fly a back- ground suitable for a bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Texas and a master’s in land- scape architecture from Harvard University. “I was absolutely stunned when President Obama actually mentioned me by name in his opening remarks. It made the years of effort worthwhile.” “My mother always had a great respect and appre- ciation for my natural artistic and creative talents,” Fly says. “She understood that I could use those tal- ents and skills in a professional career. So, she en- couraged me to do things like draw and build mod- els when I was in grade school. Once I began to take formal art classes in high school, she would sacri- fice the limited money she had to buy art supplies for me. She also bought books related to architec- ture for me to read.”
Everett Fly, Architect,
See EVERETT FLY, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 11, 2016, ISSUE 1134
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