Promised Land seeks to preserve itself
Beverly Bardequez is the third generation of her family to live on Rapp Road, in one of the original houses. She has helped to organize a fundraiser, with the Rapp Road Historical Association and Historic Albany Foundation, to preserve houses in the neighborhood.
The Rapp Road Historical Association is holding a fundraiser at the Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center, 195 New Karner Road, today, Dec. 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.
The association is partnering with the Historic Albany Foundation to raise money to preserve abandoned houses in the neighborhood.
Rapp Road, which is partly in the town of Guilderland and partly in the panhandle of Albany, was settled by a group of black sharecroppers from Shubuta, Mississippi, when they migrated north during the Great Depression.
They called their neighborhood “the Promised Land.”
The Christian community was initially made up of 28 families, and nine of those families’ descendants still remain.
To preserve the foundation of their heritage, with development slowly chipping away at it, neighbors formally organized to become the not-for-profit Rapp Road Historical Association.
The fundraiser will feature a silent auction; Jennifer Lemak will be signing copies of her book, “Southern Life, Northern City: History of Albany’s Rapp Road Community”; and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan will speak about the importance of the neighborhood.
The cost to attend is $50 or $35 for seniors.
Hot and cold hors d’ouerves, beverages, and desserts will be served.
