Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Award

This award is presented to individuals, organizations, or projects that

represent outstanding achievements in preserving Arizona's historic

and prehistoric cultural resources.

2024 Arizona Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Awards Announced

Several members from Randolph United Council (RUC) was in attendance along with RUC Attorney Dianne Post. Some of Council and community members in attendance were: Ronnie Jordan, Dion Rushing, Harvey Rushing, Kyle Muldrow, Mary Turner, Dorothy Wright, Ann Mitchell, Nadine Jordan, Shannon Calloway and Louvina Estelle.

The information below regarding the award was copied from Arizona Preservation Foundation website

The 42nd Annual Governor’s Heritage Preservation Honor Awards, presented by the State Historic Preservation Office and Arizona Preservation Foundation, recognize people, organizations, and projects that represent outstanding achievements in preserving Arizona’s prehistoric and historic resources. Each has significantly contributed to what remains of Arizona’s architectural heritage.

Randolph Community Historic District: A Landmark of Cultural Heritage

The Randolph Community Historic District is a singular example of an extant rural African American community in Arizona. It was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. Jennifer Levstik, her staff at Westland, the Community of Randolph, and the Arizona State University Black History Archives collaborated on the preparation of this Historic District nomination. It is the first Black Traditional Cultural Place in Arizona and one of the first of its type in the nation. Community outreach and oral history interviews were a major part of this undertaking. Randolph residents, including Kyle Muldrow, Ronald Jordan, and Angela Acuña; historians Dr. Anthony Pratcher and Dr. Geta LeSuer; and librarians from ASU’s Black Archives played important roles in gathering this information and creating a still growing community archive. The official listing in the National Register gives the community the recognition it deserves as a traditional black community and provides some small level of restorative justice for the years of industrial impacts on the historic rural community.