In this special crossover episode of the Urban Roots podcast and the Columbia GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Podcast, host Deqah Hussein-Wetzel has a Black history and preservation-focused conversation with award-winning journalist and historian A’Lelia Bundles about her newest book Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. A’Lelia Walker—daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and heiress to America’s first Black woman-made fortune—was more than a symbol of inherited wealth. She was a cultural impresario, a connector of artists and activists, and an architectural patron whose Vertner Tandy-designed Villa Lewaro Estate and (rehabbed) Harlem townhouse became vital gathering places for the Black intelligentsia of the 1920s.

Together, Deqah and A’Lelia Bundles, the great-granddaughter of A’Lelia Walker, explore her interest in her family's history and what she’s learned about her ancestor's role in shaping Harlem’s cultural landscape through hospitality, preservation, and community. The episode also delves into the challenges of researching Black women’s histories, the overlooked architectural legacy of Vertner Tandy, and the significance of cultural memory in contemporary preservation work.

🔗 More about her book: https://aleliabundles.com/writing-biography-an-update-on-the-joy-goddess-of-harlem

🎧Listen to the full interview on Columbia GSAPP’s Soundcloud, https://soundcloud.com/columbiagsapp

Credits:

Your host and producer is Deqah Hussein-Wetzel. This episode was edited by Skyler Ficklin and Vanessa Quirk. Mixed by Skyler.

Urban Roots⁠ is a project by ⁠Urbanist Media⁠, a non-profit dedicated to preserving place through story.

Subscribe on YouTube (and Patreon/Substack for exclusive content)!

Follow Urban Roots on Instagram at ⁠urbanrootsculture⁠ and at urbanrootspod

In this bonus episode, Deqah unpacks equitable preservation-based development with Bree Jones, the Founder and CEO of Parity, an equitable development company headquartered in West Baltimore that acquires and rehabilitates abandoned properties by the block to create affordable home ownership opportunities. Bree started Parity in 2020 as a response to the gentrification and displacement she experienced in her hometown in NYC.

Here, Deqah and Bree discuss the various levels of economic disinvestment that create hyper-vacancy and decay. Instead of pushing people out of their legacy lands and neighborhoods, Bree and the folks at Parity have envisioned a new way to develop, one that disengages from traditional, top-down forms of planning to combat gentrification and other historical place-based inequities such as America’s legacy of urban renewal. Through this new approach, Bree has successfully generated over $60 million of investment in Black communities.

Bree Jones is the CEO & Founder of Parity, a culturalist and nationally recognized systems change leader focused on revaluing Black neighborhoods and engendering Black wealth. If you haven’t already, we recommend you watch her TED Talk, How to Revitalize a Neighborhood – Without Gentrification, that explicates this innovative vision.

This episode is sponsored by Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management. Loyola University Maryland is a Baltimore-based institution that believes in the power of community builders.

Credits:

Your host is Deqah Hussein-Wetzel. This episode was edited by Deqah, Connor Lynch, Skyler Ficklin, and Vanessa Quirk. Mixing by Connor Lynch. Our music is by Adaam James Levin-Areddy.

Urban Roots⁠ is a project by ⁠Urbanist Media⁠, a non-profit dedicated to preserving place through story. Please consider supporting our work by donating to us via ⁠Venmo⁠ or ⁠Paypal⁠.

Subscribe to our YouTube (and Patreon for exclusive content)!

Want to sponsor a bonus episode? Email us at: urbanrootspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on Instagram at ⁠urbanrootsculture⁠

We at Urbanist Media (and the Urban Roots podcast) are excited to have, yet again, celebrated Juneteenth with Cincinnati Public Radio.

This year, we produced brand new ⁠Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts⁠: weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati Black history and African American history. This one is all about the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs…

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Tucked away on Chapel Street in Walnut Hills, this short takes you to the Cincinnati Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, which, for over a century, has continued to serve as a hub for Black women’s activism. Founded in 1904 by Mary Fletcher Ross, the Federation united local clubs to provide education and social services that, at the time, weren’t available to the Black community. In 1925, members purchased the Hannaford-designed mansion on Chapel Street that still stands today, transforming it into a lasting symbol of resilience, sisterhood, and civic leadership.

Listen to the entire archive (2023-2025) on Cincinnati Public Radio's website: https://cinradio.org/juneteenth-special-programming-from-urbanist-media/

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Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts is brought to you by Urbanist Media’s Urban Roots podcast team: Deqah Hussein-Wetzel (Executive Producer / Host & Narrator), Tania Mohammad (Producer / Story Editor), Vanessa Maria Quirk (Story Editor), and Connor Lynch (Audio Editor / Mixer).