This work is grounded in the belief that preserving history is about more than remembering the past. It is also about ensuring that the people who helped shape our communities remain part of the stories we tell about them.

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Herbert Grigsby Hawkins: A Story Recovered

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Herbert Grigsby Hawkins was my maternal grandfather—an Indianapolis businessman, laborer, and community figure whose life was deeply connected to the history of Indiana Avenue. Yet, like the stories of many Black men and women who helped shape their communities, much of his story had faded from the public record.

What began as a personal effort to learn more about the grandfather I never had the opportunity to know became something much larger. Through newspapers, photographs, public records, archival collections, family materials, and conversations with others, I began piecing together a life and legacy that had been largely forgotten. Each discovery led to another—revealing Herbert's businesses, community connections, organizations, relationships, and place within the larger story of Black Indianapolis.

That research ultimately moved beyond family history and into public history. Herbert's story has been returned to the historical record through my research and writing, including his publication on the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis website, and it continues to create new connections, conversations, programs, and opportunities to examine how Black lives and contributions can disappear from—and be restored to—our collective memory.

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Herbert's rediscovery has helped shape LAMP's approach to public history: recover what has been overlooked, preserve what remains, and make sure meaningful stories are not lost again.