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The Indy Black Heritage & Legacy Trail, a newly announced initiative of cultural preservation, plans to host walking tours in 2025.
No new walkways or paths are presently scheduled to be part of the trail, which will use heritage markers to highlight Black history in the neighborhoods of Haughville, Babe Denny, Norwood, Martindale and areas west and northwest of downtown Indianapolis.
Flanner House, Rokh R&D Studio and KT Austin Arts LLC announced the Indy Black Heritage & Legacy Trail on Monday.
Social services organization Flanner House, 2424 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St., was founded in 1903. Rokh is led by Danicia Malone, who led the research of a 2022 street-by-street inventory of public art in Marion County. KT Austin Arts LLC is led by Kaila Austin, an artist and art historian who recently reimagined a lost 1934 mural commissioned for Crispus Attucks High School.
“Our mission with the Indy Black Heritage & Legacy Trail is to celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Black communities in Indianapolis in a way that empowers residents, builds community unity, and honors ancestors of the past,” Austin said in a written statement. “Through collaboration and community involvement, we aim to create a living narrative of each neighborhood, preserving its unique legacy for generations to come.”
The first walking tours are scheduled to coincide with the 2025 celebration of Juneteenth, which commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free in 1865.
Members of the community are invited to share memories of the Indy Black Heritage & Legacy Trail neighborhoods at ibhlt.com.
The website lists the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development, Glick Family Foundation, Lilly Endowment Inc. and Efroymson Family Fund as sponsors of the trail initiative.
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So, the Cultural Trail didn’t cover all cultures? What a surprise.
Cool!