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The Long Island History Project


It’s a long island with a long history. Want to hear it? Interviews with historians, scholars, authors and anyone with a story to tell and a passion for this unique region of New York.

Jun 8, 2020

It’s a preservation party and you’re all invited!

We’ve teamed up with Preservation Long Island to help celebrate their 2020 Preservation Awards. Over the next week we’ll be posting interviews with each of the five honorees, discussing their organizations and the histories that they are fighting to preserve. And stick around for the after party! At the end of each episode, Sarah Kautz, Preservation Director at Preservation Long Island, will recap for us the finer points of running a successful preservation project on Long Island.

Today we speak with SANS Sag Harbor president Renee Simons about the push to preserve three historic African American subdivisions in the area: Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah. Started as summer resort areas after World War II, the three neighborhoods provided African Americans a safe retreat during highly segregated times.

Although threats to the continued existence of SANS still exist, the three areas are now listed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places.

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