Session #3 Synthesis

Sugar Land 95 Cemetery

FBISD/MASS Design Group Engagement Session #3 Synthesis

On May 4, 2022 FBISD hosted the third of four community engagement sessions led by the MASS Design Group to collect community input on the Sugar Land 95 Memorialization Project. The workshop began with an introduction of MASS, followed by a recap of engagement session #2.

MASS presented memorial commemoration strategies of peer-projects discussed at Workshop 2 to introduce the engagement objective of Programming: Placemaking and Placekeeping. MASS then described the workshop goal and activity including community standards that would occur in Zoom breakout rooms.

Approximately 18 participants were divided into two breakout rooms, each with a MASS facilitator and at least two FBISD moderators. The facilitators guided participants through a series of prompts and visuals via the platform Miro to understand how participants envision programming and use of the site..

Following the breakout room, participants returned to the main group for a brief report out and summary remarks of next steps.

Discussion in the breakout rooms were facilitated by the following 6 topics:

  1. Overall Landscape
  2. Pavilion Programming
  3. Burial Ground
  4. Commemoration
  5. Pathways
  6. Information & Graphics

The following section summarizes key insights and priorities gathered from participants’ responses.

Overall Landscape

  1. A learning landscape that tells the story and history of the Sugar Land 95 and is accessible to all allowing visitors to share experiences and stories
  2. It should be a place for performances and celebrations that commemorate events and bring diverse people together around catalytic conversations
  3. Planting that seasonally changes to symbolically represent that changing of time and tone for the site and serve as an opportunity for community stewardship of the landscape
  4. It should be a space for reflection, rest, contemplation, beauty, and learning
  5. Art is complementary to learning and reflection spaces, alluding to an art element that supports peaceful and meditative tone

Pavilion Programming

  1. Support self-guided learning, lectures, and community events/activities about the history of convict leasing, its connection to present-day injustices, and the site’s history
  2. Engage opportunities for experiential learning such as demonstrations of growing and harvesting sugar cane.

Burial Ground

  1. Allow people to meander through the burial ground to engage and interact with markers with sensitivity to the burial plots 2
  2. Participate in ceremonial rituals such as offering libations for remembrance
  3. A contemplative environment for prayer and reflection
  4. A sacred space
  5. To honor the humanity of each of the 95 individuals
  6. A connection to Old Imperial Farm Cemetery

Commemoration

  1. There should be 95 individual markers to show the magnitude of the tragedy and represent the voice of the individuals, and contain identify and story of each individual
  2. Expand beyond the 95 victims and include those connected to convict leasing in other places
  3. Provide an opportunity for the 95 markers to change over time through the interactions of visitors and descendants

Pathways

  1. A variety of pathways that include different scales of gathering and interaction
  2. A variety of prescribed and informal pathways
  3. Landscape that connects SL95 site to the Old Imperial Farm Cemetery

Information and Graphics

  1. Archival photographs and sites related to the history of convict leasing in Sugar Land
  2. Visual displays that incorporates spatial and tactile experience, imagery of archival photographs and documents, physical artifact replicas, QR codes to access audio content, augmented reality experiences 3. Interpretive signage and graphics telling the story of Sugar Land, the sugar industry, and timeline documenting the experience of the site integrated into pavilion

Synthesis of what the team heard fall into four key priorities that could inform principles of the design of the site. The cemetery should be a place that…

  • Cultivates a shared experience through an emotional and cognitive journey of the site
  • Reveals history & truth-telling that conveys a complete narrative of Sugar Land and Fort Bend’s role in convict leasing and current national inequalities
  • Uplifts justice and healing as a model for community strengthening and honoring the 95
  • Transforms education to foster intergenerational learning and engagement