Exploring the Interpretive Plan: Theme 2
It’s here! Tune in to the third episode of our Exploring the Interpretive Plan video series. In this episode, we hear from MuseWork and RECLAIM about the second theme in the Pease Park Interpretive Plan, which focuses specifically on the cultural history of Pease Park, including acknowledging that Governor Pease, who donated the initial tract of land for Pease Park in 1875, was an enslaver and that there were enslaved people who worked on the land that is now part of the park.
Theme Two: Pease Park is emblematic of racial and economic injustice in Austin and presents a unique opportunity to acknowledge our history of slavery, segregation, and exclusion in order to create a public space that is welcoming and accessible to all.
Pease Park Conservancy has worked hard for the past year and a half to develop the interpretive plan and to conduct community engagement sessions particularly with the Black community in order to learn how communities of color would like to see these stories shared. Additional community engagement will inform the types of programming, recognition, and acknowledgment the Conservancy can implement that would feel meaningful and reflective of their feelings about the space.