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Reckoning With the Past:

The Untold Story of Race in Austin

The Slave Quarters Building at the Neill-Cochran House Museum

 

 
 
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Photograph of Rufus Howard, longtime employee of the Cochran family, before 1926. Neill-Cochran House Museum, Cochran Family Collection.

The Project

Over a 12-month period through April 2023, the NCHM will reintroduce the Slave Quarters to the public through restoration, interpretation, and new programming for a total project cost of $500K.

Restoration

The Slave Quarters, while structurally sound, will require restoration to return the building to its antebellum appearance to reflect its historical function as a work and living space. The work will stabilize the chimney, open sections of the ceiling on both the first and second floors, and reintegrate the interior connection between the first and second floors through the original trap door opening.

Interpretive Plan

The new Interpretive Plan will guide all aspects of the project moving forward. New programming and materials will contextualize the Slave Quarters building as a place of enslavement and as a building used by free laborers.

New Programming

The NCHM has begun to approach new programming that reincorporates the Slave Quarters buildings into our site’s historical narrative and significance. From February 2020–September 2021, the “Reckoning with the Past” exhibit shared our preliminary research on the Slave Quarters building, tying it to Austin’s long and oft-ignored racial history.

April 2023 will not complete our story, but rather serve as a new beginning for expanding narratives for years to come. Over the next year, the Museum will introduce new interpretive programming including tours, interpretive signage, exhibits, websites, video tours, brochures and maps.


The Project Timeline


Purchase the Book!

To learn more about the Slave Quarters, the experience of life at this site, and the broader narrative of the way race has played a role in Austin history, you can purchase a copy of our book, Reckoning with the Past: Slavery, Segregation, and Gentrification in Austin from our online gift shop. The media coverage of A Weekend for Community and for the project more broadly is on the Press & Media page of our website.

Become a Sponsor!

The Neill-Cochran House Museum is fundraising for Reckoning with the Past: The Untold Story of Race in Austin. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities and how to become more involved with this project, contact Development Director Ann Flemings at aflemings@nchmuseum.org or (512) 478-2335. For immediate contributions, click on the link below.


Sponsors


DONORS

RECKONING
The Still Water Foundation

RESTORER
Cathy Brown
Marian Casey
Jane Hilfer and Alec Rhodes
Susan and Bob Morse

CULTURAL AMBASSADOR
Joyce Statz

GENERAL
Ms. Andrea Abel
Ms. Anissa Allbritton
Ms. Susan Altgelt
Ms. Rebekah Dobrasko
Ms. Judy Farrell
Ms. Allison Kaylor-Flink
Ms. Suzanne Labry
Ms. Cynthia Leigh
Mr. Charles Mandelbaum

Mrs. Virginia Miracle & Mr. Jed Miracle
Ms. Sue Moss & Mr. Craig Bell
Dr. Karen Pope
Ms. Penny Riordan
Ms. Mary E. White
Mr. Wendell Williams